moment nurse realises the man he is trying to save is a SUICIDE BOMBER

He noticed one man lying on the floor in a tangle of tables and chairs and pulled him out so he could perform CPR.

At first he did not realise anything was different about the man, despite the fact he had a massive hole in his side.

David said in video footage released by Reuters: "I go to this man that I could out of the corner of my eye. I take him out of this tangle of chairs, tables, and I put him on the floor.

Struggle: The nurse rushed to rescue the man from among the tangle of tables and chairs

"He was unconscious, he had nothing special, but I noticed that on the side of his body there was an enormous hole. A large hole on his side. But there, again, I don't think at all that it was a suicide bomber.

"At that moment, for me it's a client like others who suffered from a gas blast and who must have hurt himself on something. But his wound was huge."

It was only when he took the man's T-shirt off to better try and resuscitate him that he noticed the wires snaking around his body.

"I put him on the ground, I start performing a CPR, the other guy who was with me takes over from me. And at that point we had just unbuttoned the jacket, that's all, we had kept his T-shirt on, it was not really thick.

REUTERS

Bombing: David rushed to the Comptoir Voltaire cafe near his home

"When I was performing the CPR I did not feel anything. And at some point, the guy performing the resuscitation with me tells me 'maybe we should remove the T-shirt, it's better.' I tell him 'yes, you are right'.

"And when I ripped his T-shirt I saw some wires.

"On the ground there was blood, and I noticed the first bolts on the ground. Then I understood immediately. I told myself, 'it's an explosion (that made the wound in his side), it's a suicide bomber' and I knew it was him. And at that precise moment when I realised what he was, the emergency services arrived."

David said he had known the man was dead but was trying to save him nonetheless.

Getty Images

Killed: Militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud died in the Saint-Denis siege on Wednesday

When the emergency services arrived a fireman noticed the wires and immediately realised the danger David had put himself in.

The bewildered nurse said: "I knew, I knew that he was dead but I told myself: "if there is a chance, why not? But without thinking it was him  that had done.

"At the moment I realised it was a suicide bomber, the emergency services and I did not have to deal with him anymore. I tried to assess what the damage was. It was when I told to the fireman that had recognised me "this man has lots of wires on him", he screamed, he said: "Everyone get away, we evacuate everyone. And then we all went outside."

CPR: It was not until his T-shirt was removed that David realised who his patient was

If it was not for the fact that the bomb was damaged and had not exploded properly, David's kind actions could have cost him his life.

He did not realise until two days after the attack how close to death he was, and said it still haunts him.