London: As the Diana inquest enters its fourth week, an eyewitness to the Paris car crash has claimed that one of the first paparazzi to arrive at the site shouted to another photographer, "She's dead, hurry up".

Frenchman Yannick Chenna told the jury at the inquest that he then saw the second photographer, who was riding a scooter, approaching the mangled Mercedes which crashed in the Alma tunnel, killing both the Princess of Wales and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed ten years back.

Chenna claimed that he was driving through the Paris underpass with his girlfriend on August 31,1997 when he came across the horrific crash on the opposite carriageway. He also said that he had seen three people on foot around the wrecked vehicle. "The three people on foot were going round the car and were looking inside it," he said in his statement read out to the jury.

Chenna's testimony came a day after another key witness claimed that a motorcyclist had swerved to avoid the car crash and quickly left the scene without stopping. "I heard a hooter followed by the sound of braking and then saw a motorbike emerge from the smoke. It swerved as if it were avoiding the crashed car. The motorcycle left very quickly after having executed the swerve," Grigori Rassinier, who was also driving in the opposite direction, had said in his statement to the jury.

It may be mentioned that last week, another motorist, who also witnessed the car crash had claimed that he saw a "major white flash" moments before the tragedy.

Dodi's father Mohammed Al-Fayed had already alleged at the inquest that the couple were murdered by British secret service on the orders of Prince Philip. "MI6 agents had blinded the Mercedes driver with a flash gun and it was part of the conspiracy to make the crash look like an accident". 

Source : PTI