Paris attacks: nurse recalls experience of helping suicide bomber at Comptoir Voltaire cafe
As many lay in pools of blood on the night of the 13th of November, nurse David present at Comptoir Voltaire cafe tried to help one of the several targets hit only to realize that he was the suicide bomber.
Just like helping any other injured victim, David, who works at a Paris hospital, went near an unconscious man lying amid overturned chairs and tables without massive injuries. As he began with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, David opened the wounded man’s shirt and found him to be covered with wires. Immediately, David realised that what he thought to be a gas explosion at the Bataclan theatre, where 89 people were killed, was far more intense and worse.
"There were wires; one white, one black, one red and one orange. Four different colors," he said, according to Reuters. "I knew then he was a suicide bomber."
"The first wire I saw was red. I think that was the detonator," David added.
Upon the arrival of the fire following the explosion, David informed one of the men from the fire services about the detonator. Immediately everyone was ordered to evacuate the cafe.
It was discovered that David was trying to save Brahmin Abdeslam’s life, one of the ISIS militants who carried out coordinated attacks in Paris across six different locations. However, Abdeslam succumbed to his injuries. He further said that he wasn’t aware of Abdeslam walking into the cafe and believed him to be scpresent at the cafe when the bomb had detonated. "He had a large opening on his side, about 30 cms (11.8 inches)," he said.
"When you lift a t-shirt and you see wires, you know that's not normal,” he added. David also informed the police that the bomb Abdeslam was carrying had not detonated properly.
David had also helped a woman and a young man lying on a table, before moving on to Abdeslam.
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