Jasmine El Youssi, 20, risked her safety to comfort an injured woman as an Islamic State gunman fired 30 bullets into the restaurant where she was working.
The waitress who became one of the heroes of the Paris massacre told last night how she would chave rather have paid with her own life than leave bleeding victims of the terror attack to die alone on the street.
She later cradled the dying after bravely going outside to try to help those cut down in the shootings.
‘I would have preferred I die, than let them die,’ she said.
‘I know how it feels to be alone and I just couldn’t live with myself knowing that I hadn’t tried to help them.
‘I didn’t want the people who had been shot to think they had been abandoned.’
In exclusive footage obtained by the Daily Mail that has been viewed by millions around the world, Miss Youssi can be seen hiding under the bar and wrapping her arms around the bleeding victim while the gunman, only yards away, hunts more victims.
Last night the barmaid told how she comforted the woman – who had been shot in the wrist – as bullets rang around them.
As the footage begins, Miss Youssi and her colleague Samir, a barman, can be seen clutching each other and ducking behind their counter moments after 26-year-old Belgian-born Salah Abdeslam begins firing.
He is still on the run.
The waitress is then seen pushing her colleague’s head further under cover – but he quickly wriggles away and flees down the stairs to the cellar kitchen.
Seconds later, an injured woman bursts through the pizzeria door and throws herself behind the bar where Miss Youssi immediately begins comforting her and cradling her head.
The Parisian-born waitress, whose parents hail from Morocco and Algeria, said: ‘At first I thought it was little kids playing with bangers outside.
‘And then we heard another noise but this time the window exploded. Then there was a lot of shooting.
‘All I know is that I just went down and I tried to hide. The whole time I was praying that it would stop.
‘I think it lasted for about ten or 20 seconds but for us it felt like it lasted for one or two minutes.
‘My cousin, the waiter, ran downstairs to the basement. And I saw an injured woman, Lucille, and she ran to me. I wanted to protect her. She was hurt and she had a hole in her arm.
‘She was crying and saying that her boyfriend was outside and, to be honest with you, I thought he must be dead. [In fact, he survived.]
‘I knew she was afraid, she was freaking out, and she was hurt. I would never have run and left her.
‘I could not do that. I would never do that. She looked about 25, and she was bleeding a lot.
‘When I took her downstairs she was telling me that she could not feel her hand any more.’
After leading the injured woman and others customers downstairs to safety, Miss Youssi went outside to see if she could help any of the injured victims.
Source: Dailymailuk