The first doctor on the scene of Princess Diana’s fatal Paris crash, Dr Frederic Mailliez thought she would survive, upon being questioned during her inquest. The doctor was driving through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel when he saw the Princess’ crashed car in the opposite carriageway. "She was alive. She was moaning, she was breathing but she was really weak," he said via video link from Paris. He said: "I remember the horn making a noise and I remember the front of the car was damaged, the engine almost cut in two parts, that showed me that it was a high-energy accident." Driver Henri Paul and Dodi Al Fayed were already dead when he looked into the car, he said. He could see that bodyguard Trevor Rees was alive but very seriously injured in the front seat. His initial assessment was that the Princess had no obvious head injury. "I do not remember any injury on her forehead.""I just remember a few drops of blood but I would not say a serious injury." Richard Keen QC, representing the family of Henri Paul, asked him: "Do you remember saying that you thought the lady you had treated would survive?" He answered: "Yes, I said that." Dr Mailliez called the emergency dispatch centre as he had worked as an emergency doctor for the fire brigade.
The doctor only found out that the woman in the back seat was Princess Diana when he saw the news the day after the crash on 31 August 1997. The inquest into Princess Diana’s death is still continuing.
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