Natasha Richardson dies . ..details of how the first paramedics on the scene of ski accident were turned back

The first ambulance sent to a Canadian ski resort where Tony Award-winning actress Natasha Richardson suffered a fall that later killed her was turned away - and she was transported to a hospital hours later, a paramedic told a Canadian newspaper.

Richardson, 45, who suffered a head injury Monday while taking a ski course on a "bunny slope," died on Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side.

Yves Coderre, director of operations at the emergency services company that sent the medics to the Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec, told The Globe and Mail today that ski patrollers requested an ambulance for Richardson.

"They never saw the patient," Coderre told the newspaper. "So they turned around."

The paramedics who responded were told they were not needed, said Coderre, whose company, Ambulances Radisson, serves Mont Tremblant, about 80 miles northwest of Montreal.

Coderre said a second ambulance was later called to Richardson's hotel after her condition had worsened. She was then taken to a hospital.

It was not clear who sent the first ambulance away - or why - but a resort spokeswoman said that Richardson initially told them she was fine.

Richardson was brain dead when she was flown to New York on Tuesday.

Coderre said people who suffer head trauma often believe they are not seriously injured - a mistake that can cost them their lives.

"When you have a head trauma you can bleed. It can deteriorate in a few hours or a few days," he told the newspaper.

Richardson was married to actor Liam Neeson and was the daughter of legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave. She and Neeson have two sons.