An Australian radio presenter who duped a nurse into helping reveal details about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge's health has spoken tearfully of the moment she heard that Jacintha Saldanha had died.
DJ Mel Greig told Australian TV networks: "Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened.
"I remember my first question was 'Was she a mother?'.
"I have thought about this a million times in my head, that I just wanted to reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say sorry.
"I hope they are OK, I really do."
Her colleague, Michael Christian, added: "I just hope that they get the love, the support, the care that they need."
The pair posed as the Queen and the Prince of Wales when they rang London's King Edward VII hospital where Kate was being treated for acute morning sickness.
Ms Saldanha took the initial call and, believing the call to be genuine, put them through to another colleague who was duped into descri
Speaking on Today Tonight on Channel Seven, Ms Greig said: "It doesn't seem real because you just couldn't foresee something like that happening from a prank call.
"You know it was never meant to go that far. It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before.
"This wasn't meant to happen."
Mr Christian said: "I don't think that anyone could have predicted what could've happened. It was just a tragic set of circumstances that I don't think anyone could have thought that we'd be here."
He insisted that they had assumed they would be hung up on.
"The call to begin with wasn't about speaking to Kate," he said.
"It wasn't about trying to get a scoop or anything. The call was just - I mean we'd assumed that we'd be hung up on and that'd be that."
Mr Christian, comforting his tearful colleague during the interview, said he was "gutted, shattered, heartbroken" by the nurse's death
Asked who had come up with the idea of the prank, Mr Christian replied that it was "just in a team meeting" before the show.
Ms Greig added: "Everything's done as a team."
Asked if they were aware that they were trying to get a medical condition, Ms Greig said: "But we didn't actually want that. We just wanted to be hung up on.
"We wanted to be hung up on with our silly voices and wanted a 20-second segment to air of us doing stupid voices."
She added: "There's nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now. And for what I feel for the family.
"We're so sorry that this has happened to them."
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), the station's parent company, issued a statement saying it reiterated its "deep regret" for what had taken place.
Chief executive officer Rhys Holleran said: "We don't claim to be perfect and we always strive to do better. We have initiated a detailed and rigorous review of our policies and procedures to inform any improvements we can make.
"We are also providing support to our people who are deeply saddened by this tragic and unforeseen event."
The statement also said attempts had been made to contact the hospital before the hoax was broadcast, adding that it believed no laws had been broken.
The station's Hot 30 show, on which the prank call was broadcast, has been terminated. A company-wide suspension of prank calls is also in place.
Britain's Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told Sky News that the nurse's response to the prank call does not point to a widespread breach of procedure.
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