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Paparazzi princess5/27/2023 Police arrived around ten minutes after the crash at 00:30 and an ambulance was on site five minutes later, according to witnesses. When they reached the scene, some rushed to help, trying to open the doors and help the victims, while some of them took pictures. The photographers had been driving slower and were some distance behind the Mercedes. Pont de l'Alma Tunnel west entrance, 2007, showing pillars and lack of guard rails Witnesses also reported that photographers on motorcycles "swarmed the Mercedes sedan before it entered the tunnel". Witnesses arriving shortly after the crash reported smoke. The impact caused substantial damage, particularly to the front half of the vehicle, as there was no guard rail to prevent this. It then spun, hit the stone wall of the tunnel backwards and finally came to a stop. It was travelling at an estimated speed of 105 km/h (65 mph) – more than twice the 50 km/h (31 mph) speed limit of the tunnel. The car reportedly struck a passing white Fiat, swerved to the left of the two-lane carriageway and collided head-on with the thirteenth pillar that supported the roof. The crash Īt 00:23, Paul lost control of the car at the entrance to the Pont de l'Alma underpass. After leaving the Rue Cambon and crossing the Place de la Concorde, they drove along Cours la Reine and Cours Albert 1er – the embankment road along the right bank of the River Seine – into the Place de l'Alma underpass. None of the occupants were wearing seat belts. Diana and Fayed were the rear passengers Trevor Rees-Jones, a member of the Fayed family's personal protection team, was in the (right) front passenger seat. They did this to avoid the nearly thirty photographers waiting in front of the hotel. Diana and Fayed then departed from the hotel's rear entrance, Rue Cambon, at around 00:20 on 31 August CEST (22:20 on 30 August UTC), heading for the apartment in Rue Arsène Houssaye. Henri Paul, the deputy head of security at the Ritz, had been instructed to drive the hired black 1994 armoured Mercedes-Benz S280 sedan (W140 S-Class) in order to elude the paparazzi a decoy vehicle left the Ritz first from the main entrance on Place Vendôme, attracting a throng of photographers. Mohamed was and remains the owner of the Hôtel Ritz Paris and resided in an apartment on Rue Arsène Houssaye, a short distance from the hotel, just off the Avenue des Champs Elysées. They had intended to stay there for the night. They had stopped there en route to London, having spent the preceding nine days together on board Mohamed's yacht Jonikal on the French and Italian Riviera. ![]() On Saturday, 30 August 1997, Princess Diana left the Olbia Airport, Sardinia, on a private jet and arrived at Le Bourget Airport in Paris with Egyptian film producer Dodi Fayed, the son of businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. Mercedes-Benz S280 sedan (W140 S-Class), similar to the one involved in the crash Public interest in Diana has remained high and she continues to retain regular press coverage in the decades since her death.Ĭircumstances Events preceding the crash The royal family were criticised in the press for their reaction to Diana's death. Her death sparked an outpouring of public grief in the United Kingdom and worldwide, and her televised funeral was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people. Some media reports claimed that Rees-Jones survived because he was wearing a seat belt, but other investigations revealed that none of the occupants of the car were wearing them. In 2008, the jury at the British inquest, Operation Paget, returned a verdict of unlawful killing through grossly negligent driving by Paul and the following paparazzi vehicles. ![]() Anti-depressants and traces of an anti-psychotic in his blood might have worsened Paul's inebriation. He was the deputy head of security at the Hôtel Ritz Paris and had earlier goaded paparazzi waiting for Diana and Fayed outside the hotel. ![]() In 1999, a French investigation found that Paul lost control of the vehicle at high speed while intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs, and concluded that he was solely responsible for the crash. Some media claimed that the erratic behaviour of the paparazzi chasing the car, as reported by the BBC, caused the crash. Diana's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured, but was the only survivor of the crash. Diana's partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, also died upon impact. In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died from injuries sustained earlier that night in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France.
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