A woman whose fiancé was murdered in the 2017 terror attack in London has found love again — after a virtual meeting with a hero who survived the ISIS massacre in Paris two years earlier, according to a report.
“We are united proof that terror never wins,” said French nationals Christine Delcros and Sebastien Besatti, who met on an online survivors group and moved in together before the coronavirus lockdown in March, The Sun reported.
Besatti, 39, saved a pregnant woman when three suicide bombers stormed the Bataclan concert hall in the French capital and killed 89 people during coordinated raids that claimed 130 lives in November 2015.
In June 2017, Delcros’ partner, Xavier Thomas, 45, was killed during a stroll with her when he was struck by a terrorist’s van on London Bridge and thrown into the Thames River.
Delcros, 47, who was badly injured, has recovered slowly from the devastating trauma with Besatti’s help.
“A few days before we started messaging I called for the angel of Xavier, begging for a miracle because I thought I’d die of grief. Sebastien was sent to me like a savior,” she told The Sun.
Besatti added: “It is crazy to find happiness out of such darkness. Fate has brought us together. We’re so much stronger together.”
He was watching the Eagles of Death Metal band when jihadis attacked the Bataclan, where he saw a woman clinging to a window and screaming: “Help me! I’m pregnant!”
Besatti was captured in an image that was seen around the world as he pulled the desperate woman inside while clinging to a vent before the gunmen held him hostage.
“They pushed a Kalashnikov against my leg and screamed at me to do what they wanted,” he told the news outlet, referring to an Ak-47 assault rifle.
“They made us watch as they shot at people trying to escape. They laughed as they did. I was severely marked by that night,” added Besatti, who wound up quitting his journalism job, broke up with his girlfriend and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, The Sun reported.
“I was lower than rock bottom. I could not see a way to move on,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delcros battled depression after losing her fiancé in the London attack and reached out for help in the Life for Paris support group, where she met Besatti.
“Our traumatic experiences allowed us to understand each other like no one else — and to forgive ourselves when flashbacks haunt us,” she told the paper.
In March, Besatti invited her to meet in person at the ski resort Les Deux Alpes where he was working.
“My heart was pounding hard. Then, as I walked into the bar where he was waiting, our eyes finally met as he played Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’ he’d put on to welcome me,” Delcros said.
“It was so intense when he hugged me hard, as if the life in me had sprung again. I cry when I think back to it,” she said.
“We are the proof that having been left for dead — a slow, personal and gnawing death from the inside — love and joy can spill over and put the most beautiful smiles back on our faces,” Delcros added.