Two Australian radio hosts have said they are shattered and heartbroken following the death of an Indian nurse in Britain who fell prey to their hoax call about the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy.
2Day FM radio hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian have spoken of being “shattered, gutted, heartbroken” by Jacintha Saldanha’s death after their prank phone call last week, reported Sydney Morning Herald.
Saldanha, 46, a mother of two, was found unconscious last Friday in the quarters of the King Edward VII Hospital in central London where she was working as a senior nurse. She was pronounced dead when rushed to the hospital.
The two radio jockeys from Sydney had called up the hospital Dec 4. Jacintha picked up the call in the absence of the receptionist at that time (5.30 a.m.) and transferred it to another duty nurse who briefed them on the health condition of the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton), who was admitted to the hospital Dec 3 after she complained of acute morning sickness.
In a prerecorded interview with “A Current Affair”, host Tracey Grimshaw asks them who came up with the idea for the prank call.
“It was just the team sitting down before the show – just had the idea for just a simple harmless phone call,” Christian said. “That when we thought about making a call it was going to go for 30 seconds we were going to be hung up on, and that was it.”
Greig added: “We thought a hundred people before us would’ve tried it, we thought it was such a silly idea and the accents were terrible and not for a second did we expect to speak to Kate let alone have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on.”
On how they reacted when told of Saldanha’s death, both DJs broke down in tears.
Greig described it as “gut wrenching”.
Christian concurred.
“Shattered, gutted, heartbroken and obviously you know… our deepest sympathies are with the family and the friends,” he said.
The news about the hoax call and the subsequent death caused outrage the world over.