He hauled her to safety as she clung on to a balcony 15 metres up and screamed for help. But the Frenchman who saved the unnamed pregnant woman, whose peril became a symbol of the tragedy at the Bataclan theatre doesn't know if she survived the massacre.
A video of the Bataclan terror taken by Daniel Psenny, a journalist for the French newspaper Le Monde, showed scores of terrified concert-goers running for their lives as they raced out of three emergency side exits at the concert hall and into an alley.
Three people can be seen holding on by their fingertips to first and second floor windows before they are pullled to safety when the gunfire finally stops. One of them can be heard screaming: "I'm pregnant, please help me I'm going to drop out."
A man, known only as Sebastian, has told La Province that he pulled the woman from the ledge, Mail Online reports
He said he heard her screams as he was climbing out of a window. He was holding on to an air vent when the woman begged him for help.
He told La Province: "I held on for five minutes and then the pregnant woman, who was exhausted, begged me to help her get back inside. That's what I did. I don't know where she went afterwards but I went back to my old hiding place, which wasn't great. Five minutes later I felt the barrel of a Kalashnikov against my leg and a terrorist yelling, 'Get down from there... Lie on the ground.'"
The woman clings on to the window ledge 15 metres up. Photo / Daniel Psenny / Le Monde
Sebastian said that when the terrorists first stormed the Bataclan they gave the impression they were going to negotiate with police outside. They even released a number of the wounded hostages, he said, but they soon started shooting at anyone they met, killing 89 people in total and wounding many more.
"The lights came on and I turned to the entrance and saw two or three guys armed with Kalashnikovs. They were shooting at anyone they met. Those in the bar went down first. Everyone fell to the ground. I saw a guy next to me take a bullet in the head.
Survivors of the Bataclan hug each other. Photo / Getty Images
"Word spread that there was an exit behind the stage. I crawled closer to it. I had to crawl over dead bodies, wounded people, my clothes were full of blood. I took advantage of one guy reloading to escape behind the stage. On the left there was no emergency exit, so I crossed and hid behind a black curtain and got to the other side. There was no exit there either. I climbed the stairs but they led on to the balcony of the concert hall.
"That's when I went to the windows and saw her."
After helping the pregnant woman back inside and obeying orders to lie face down with around 15 others, Sebastian said he could hear the killers shooting from the balcony. He heard people screaming as if they were being tortured.
"They told us, 'We're here to make you go through what the innocent are suffering in Syria. You hear the cries of suffering? Now you feel the fear that people go through every day in Syria. It's war. And that's just the beginning. We will massacre the innocent. We want you to tell everybody.'"
A woman is evacuated from the Bataclan theatre. Photo / Getty Images
Sebastian said he thought he would be killed: then the terrorists asked him and others to call the media.
"They wanted to talk to reporters. They asked, for some reason, if money was important to me and took out a wad of €50 notes and made me burn them.
"They spoke French to one another... One was Algerian-looking with blue eyes. 'Then they wanted to talk to the police. They put us against the windows and I had to shout to them to stay away.
"They said they had explosive belts and if the police approached they would blow us all up. They didn't seem organised and spoke to a negotiator via a hostage's notebook. The only claim they made was the withdrawal of forces.
"Then they threatened to kill one of us every five minutes and throw a body out of the window. I think they negotiator managed to organise that we would come out, and then we waited.
"We were the hostages. Those minutes were the longest of my life. I went through all the emotions including hope and finally the acceptance of death even if I closed my eyes against it and the Kalashnikov pointed in my direction.
"The terrorists had placed two human shields on doors but the security services managed to burst in without touching them. They used a battering ram and threw a stun grenade. When I saw a second one fall at my feet I told myself it was time to flee.
"I ran. The grenade exploded and threw me under the ram as the forces came through. I was trampled on but it was the happiest day of my life. I was saved."
