Witnesses to the aftermath of the crash which killed Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed have described how photographers were “on the car” taking photos of the wreckage and did not try to help its dying occupants.

Antonio Lopes-Borges, a Portuguese national who lives in France, and his friend Ana Simao arrived at the tunnel under the Pont de l’Alma in Paris just moments after the car carrying Diana and Mr Fayed had crashed shortly after midnight on August 31, 1997.

Giving evidence to the inquest into the death of Diana and Mr Fayed, Mr Lopes-Borges said he saw two photographers taking pictures of the accident. When asked in court if either of them did anything to help the people in the crashed car, he replied: “No.”

Ms Simao also saw the photographers, who she described as being “on the car”.

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She added: “There were young people arriving from the other lane, the other way, and they were on the car trying to open the doors.”

The witnesses gave evidence via video link from the French Court of Appeal in Paris this afternoon after the inquest, including the 11 jurors and the coroner, Lord Justice Scott Baker, returned to London from a two-day trip to the French capital where they retraced the final hours of Diana and Mr Fayed.

Mr Lopes-Borges was driving his green Peugeot from his brother’s house in the Opera District of Paris to his home in Boulogne when he came across the accident.

Describing the frantic scene inside the tunnel, Mr Lopes-Borges said a man who “looked like an Egyptian” told him to go back "because there is going to be an explosion”.

“As we had already had terrorist attacks in Paris I thought it could be a terrorist attack and I believed we could have an explosion there,” Mr Lopes-Borges told the inquiry, which is being held in court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

“I was not very close to the car, at the entrance to the tunnel. I was nearly in the tunnel when the guy told me to rear back because the car was going to explode.”

Ms Simao said she thought someone was “making a movie” inside the tunnel.

Mr Fayed and the driver of the Mercedes, Ritz Hotel acting security chief Henri Paul, died when the car crashed into pillar 13 of the Alma tunnel. Diana was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead a few hours later. The couple’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was badly injured.

The couple were on their way from the Ritz to Mr Fayed’s apartment near the Arc de Triomphe. They had been pursued by paparazzi, who had been waiting outside the hotel all afternoon to photograph the pair.

Mr Lopes-Borges said he had earlier seen a “big German car”, which he believed was the Mercedes, speed off from traffic lights at an intersection at the Place de la Concorde, with other cars in pursuit.

He said three or four dark-coloured cars and the white 4x4 had followed the Mercedes “at the same speed” towards the tunnel.

“Everybody was in a hurry,” he said, but he did not see those cars when he got to the tunnel.

Mr Lopes-Borges said he had not seen any motorcycles in the tunnel, but it appeared there was a small traffic jam on the other carriageway because a car had stopped and others could not get through.

He also said there were pedestrians in the tunnel.

“I was quite shocked to see pedestrians because normally there are just cars in the tunnel, it amazed me,” the witness said.

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