Princess Diana: Secrets Of Her Dying Hours
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Photo credit: BACKGRID/Getty
Princess Diana lived for hours after the horrific car crash in a Paris tunnel on the night of August 31, 1997 — with tragic twists on the operating table! The inside story follows — with TLC airing "Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason" — a 3-hour telecast exploring Diana's life, legacy and the conspiracy theories surrounding her death — on Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Diana's final hours began with emergency rescue workers in shock as they looked at the twisted wreckage of the armored Mercedes belonging to her fiancé Dodi al-Fayed. "No one could believe it," a source told The National ENQUIRER at Paris' Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, where Diana later died from her injuries.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
"They suddenly realized this woman lying in the back seat of the car, her face and blonde hair covered in blood, was Princess Diana. Everyone just freaked out," the insider revealed — adding that the troubled royal was clinically dead soon after the ambulance crew arrived!
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
The frantic crew was able to revive Diana as she was rushed to Salpetriere — breathing life back into her by massaging her heart and applying CPR. "At first she didn't look as badly injured as she really was," said one source. "Her eyes were open and her face was unscathed...but there was no recognition in her eyes. They looked dead."
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Photo credit: Getty Images
"Later," added the hospital source, "doctors discovered she had suffered massive internal injuries. She was actually choking to death on her own blood." It was 12:35 am in Paris on Aug. 31 when the ambulances were called to the scene in a highway tunnel across from the Eiffel Tower. Police arrived within four minutes, but the first ambulances didn't appear until 11 minutes later.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
By that time, both Dodi and driver Henri Paul — later found to have a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit — were dead, with their bodies soaked in blood and fine powder from the exploded airbags.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
Diana was in the rear passenger seat with her arm draped around Dodi to her left. British-born bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was in the front seat with serious injuries to his brain, heart and face.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
The paramedics helped firemen cut Di out of the wreckage — with the painstaking process taking a full hour. A medical technician crawled into the wreckage to begin monitoring Diana's vital signs, and was relieved to find they were stable. Initially they thought Di had escaped with just a broken arm. some cuts and bruises and a concussion.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
"Physically, she appeared not to be that gravely injured," one would later reveal. But Diana had lost so much blood by the time they pried her free that she actually "died" at the scene. Paramedics performed external heart massage and CPR to revive her as they carried her to the waiting ambulance.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Dr. Bruno Riou, who was head of the intensive care unit, and cardiac surgeon Dr. Alain Pavil were waiting for Diana's arrival along with a crack team of 20 other doctors and nurses. For the next two hours, surgeons literally held her life in their hands as they performed emergency treatments — including a massive blood transfusion of 20 pints!
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
"The doctors had to perform a tracheotomy where they cut open her neck and inserted a small open-ended tube which they hoped would help her breathe," said the insider. "She never did." Dr. Riou then began externally massaging her heart in a bid to get it beating.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
When that didn't work, he decided to try to jumpstart the heart back to life with cardio-electric shock. But then Diana suffered a severe heart attack on the operating table — and doctors knew they would have to open her chest!
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Photo credit: Getty Images
The determined medic gently grabbed Diana's heart, giving it a slight squeeze in a bid to force blood through Di's body. He would repeat that delicate motion 60 times a minute for almost two hours to maintain blood flow to the brain.
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Photo credit: BACKGRID
At the same time, the rest of the team used staples to close the tear in Diana's left pulmonary vein. The work took less than 15 minutes — but even as they closed the hole and stemmed the bleeding, Diana's heart wouldn't respond to Dr. Riou's increasingly desperate efforts.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Dr. Riou still refused to give up — until, after two hours, he softly sighed, "C'est fini," meaning, "It's over." Learn more of Princess Diana's final secrets in the TLC special "Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason" — premiering Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET.
Princess Diana lived for hours after the horrific car crash in a Paris tunnel on the night of August 31, 1997 — with tragic twists on the operating table! The inside story follows — with TLC airing "Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason" — a 3-hour telecast exploring Diana's life, legacy and the conspiracy theories surrounding her death — on Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET.
Photo credit: BACKGRID/Getty
Diana's final hours began with emergency rescue workers in shock as they looked at the twisted wreckage of the armored Mercedes belonging to her fiancé Dodi al-Fayed. "No one could believe it," a source told The National ENQUIRER at Paris' Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, where Diana later died from her injuries.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"They suddenly realized this woman lying in the back seat of the car, her face and blonde hair covered in blood, was Princess Diana. Everyone just freaked out," the insider revealed — adding that the troubled royal was clinically dead soon after the ambulance crew arrived!
Photo credit: BACKGRID
The frantic crew was able to revive Diana as she was rushed to Salpetriere — breathing life back into her by massaging her heart and applying CPR. "At first she didn't look as badly injured as she really was," said one source. "Her eyes were open and her face was unscathed...but there was no recognition in her eyes. They looked dead."
Photo credit: BACKGRID
"Later," added the hospital source, "doctors discovered she had suffered massive internal injuries. She was actually choking to death on her own blood." It was 12:35 am in Paris on Aug. 31 when the ambulances were called to the scene in a highway tunnel across from the Eiffel Tower. Police arrived within four minutes, but the first ambulances didn't appear until 11 minutes later.
Photo credit: Getty Images
By that time, both Dodi and driver Henri Paul — later found to have a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit — were dead, with their bodies soaked in blood and fine powder from the exploded airbags.
Photo credit: BACKGRID
Diana was in the rear passenger seat with her arm draped around Dodi to her left. British-born bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was in the front seat with serious injuries to his brain, heart and face.
Photo credit: BACKGRID
The paramedics helped firemen cut Di out of the wreckage — with the painstaking process taking a full hour. A medical technician crawled into the wreckage to begin monitoring Diana's vital signs, and was relieved to find they were stable. Initially they thought Di had escaped with just a broken arm. some cuts and bruises and a concussion.
Photo credit: BACKGRID
"Physically, she appeared not to be that gravely injured," one would later reveal. But Diana had lost so much blood by the time they pried her free that she actually "died" at the scene. Paramedics performed external heart massage and CPR to revive her as they carried her to the waiting ambulance.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Dr. Bruno Riou, who was head of the intensive care unit, and cardiac surgeon Dr. Alain Pavil were waiting for Diana's arrival along with a crack team of 20 other doctors and nurses. For the next two hours, surgeons literally held her life in their hands as they performed emergency treatments — including a massive blood transfusion of 20 pints!
Photo credit: Getty Images
"The doctors had to perform a tracheotomy where they cut open her neck and inserted a small open-ended tube which they hoped would help her breathe," said the insider. "She never did." Dr. Riou then began externally massaging her heart in a bid to get it beating.
Photo credit: BACKGRID
When that didn't work, he decided to try to jumpstart the heart back to life with cardio-electric shock. But then Diana suffered a severe heart attack on the operating table — and doctors knew they would have to open her chest!
Photo credit: BACKGRID
The determined medic gently grabbed Diana's heart, giving it a slight squeeze in a bid to force blood through Di's body. He would repeat that delicate motion 60 times a minute for almost two hours to maintain blood flow to the brain.
Photo credit: Getty Images
At the same time, the rest of the team used staples to close the tear in Diana's left pulmonary vein. The work took less than 15 minutes — but even as they closed the hole and stemmed the bleeding, Diana's heart wouldn't respond to Dr. Riou's increasingly desperate efforts.
Photo credit: BACKGRID
Dr. Riou still refused to give up — until, after two hours, he softly sighed, "C'est fini," meaning, "It's over." Learn more of Princess Diana's final secrets in the TLC special "Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason" — premiering Monday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET.
Photo credit: Getty Images
