Paris attacks heroine: I’m haunted by bloodbath

A woman who helped save lives in the Paris terror attacks today told how she is still haunted by the “bloodbath” she was caught up in.

Anne Sophie de Chaisemartin was walking past the bar, La Belle Equipe, when gunmen attacked the crowd, killing 19. She told how one woman died in her arms, and how she treated others for wounds while surrounded by bodies.

The TV producer said she recently had a tearful reunion with one of the victims she helped save on November 13, when terrorists shot dead 130 people across the French capital.

Miss de Chaisemartin, 31, said: “I went to hospital to visit one guy called Djamel, who I spent two hours with that night. I found him on the ground outside the bar with a gunshot in his left arm and two on his leg.

"I tried to stop the bleeding as much as possible and then I just stayed with him, held his hand for two hours until help arrived.

“I kept him talking, I made him laugh, I did anything I could to keep him alive and awake. His arm looked like it was completely destroyed and I thought he would die. He kept asking why it was taking so long for the ambulance to take him to hospital and I told him that there were others who were in a much worse situation.”

The 33-year-old had been trained to treat wounds in case she was sent to a war zone for her job with news channel France 24.

After the shootings, she ran to her apartment, three doors from the bar, and grabbed her medical kit.

Miss de Chaisemartin said she tied a tourniquet two people including an American woman with a wounded arm, who she also stayed with until help arrived.

She has been in touch with the family of the American, who had been in hospital until recently. Miss de Chaisemartin said: “The hardest thing is to walk past the scene every day. The images are very fresh. I take pills to sleep at night and I am now seeking professional help to cope with my thoughts.