WIFE 'SAVED BY HUSBAND' WHO HANDED HER HIS LIFEJACKET
A survivor told how her husband saved her life before drowning - because there was 'nobody there' to save him.
Frenchwoman Nicole Servel, 61, said Francis Servel, 71, gave her his lifejacket before they leapt off the sinking cruise ship.
She said: 'I owe my life to my husband – it’s obvious he saved me.' She managed to swim for shore, while Mr Servel was swept underwater and drowned.
Speaking from her home near Toulouse, south west France, Mrs Servel said: 'He shouted 'jump, jump, jump. I can't swim so he gave me his life jacket.
'I froze and couldn’t jump, but he jumped off the ship and shouted upwards 'Come on, don't worry.
'I jumped off and the last thing I heard him say was that I would be fine. Then I never saw him again.
'The water was only eight degrees. When I was alone in the water I thought of my children, my grandchildren. The thought of them kept me afloat. It kept me living. I do not know how I did it.
'I swam for several minutes. I am unable to say exactly how long. And then I found myself on a rock. Villagers came to pick us up. They led us to a church. I was very cold, frozen. In the sacristy we found a cassock. I took it. It made me warm.'
Frenchwoman Nicole Servel, 61, said Francis Servel, 71, gave her his lifejacket before they leapt off the sinking cruise ship.
She said: 'I owe my life to my husband – it’s obvious he saved me.' She managed to swim for shore, while Mr Servel was swept underwater and drowned.
Speaking from her home near Toulouse, south west France, Mrs Servel said: 'He shouted 'jump, jump, jump. I can't swim so he gave me his life jacket.
'I froze and couldn’t jump, but he jumped off the ship and shouted upwards 'Come on, don't worry.
'I jumped off and the last thing I heard him say was that I would be fine. Then I never saw him again.
'The water was only eight degrees. When I was alone in the water I thought of my children, my grandchildren. The thought of them kept me afloat. It kept me living. I do not know how I did it.
'I swam for several minutes. I am unable to say exactly how long. And then I found myself on a rock. Villagers came to pick us up. They led us to a church. I was very cold, frozen. In the sacristy we found a cassock. I took it. It made me warm.'
Grounded: The cruise ship was lit up by emergency vessels as darkness fell this evening
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