A man who rushed over to help Diana, Princess of Wales immediately after her Paris car crash today disclosed that he heard her saying the words 'Oh my God' repeatedly as she lay dying in the wrecked car with paparazzi surrounding it.

Damian Dalby told the inquest into her death that he spotted the wreckage of her crash as he and his brother, Sebastien Pennequin, travelled through the Pont de l'Alma underpass.

Mr Dalby, at that time a volunteer fireman, was the first to run over to the wreckage of the Mercedes.

Speaking via videolink from the French Capital this afternoon, the Frenchman said that when he first saw the vehicle there were people around it taking photographs.

Q&A: the Diana inquest

Why is there an inquest and what will happen?

Multimedia

• Video: Diana CCTV footage

• Pictures: Diana inquest - the car crash

• Pictures: CCTV of Diana at the Ritz

BACKGROUND

• Separating fact from fiction in the great Diana conspiracy

• ‘Diana decision is yours alone’

• Inquest hears evidence Diana was on the Pill

• Jury duty with a Royal difference

• Was Diana’s death part of a secret plot?

Related Internet Links

• Coroner's inquest - Official Site

Related Links

• Diana’s Mercedes ‘was blocked by a dark car’

• Bike ‘swerved to avoid Diana’s car’

• Witness fails to appear at hearing

Using a transcript of a statement he made to police, Mr Dalby said: "There was smoke emanating from the vehicle. I wanted to stop the battery but I couldn’t."

The car’s rear right hand side door was open, and a photographer was close by, but "he did not stop me from doing my assistance job," Mr Dalby said.

Ian Burnett, counsel for the inquest asked him: "Was it right the lady in the car was trying to speak?" Mr Dalby replied: "Yes, she was saying ’oh my God, oh my God"’.

Mr Burnett asked him if it was right that he did not speak English at that time, to which Mr Dalby replied: "That is true even today."

Mr Dalby added: "There was a tourist round there, and I asked him to translate to the bodyguard that he shouldn't move because the emergency services were arriving."

In the statement he made shortly after the crash, Mr Dalby described the translator as dark skinned, possibly North African, wearing a suit and tie, the jury was told.

The statement said: "The man who translated what I said told me he was following the vehicle. It had been travelling at high speed. He literally said they were asked to drive quickly."

Mr Dalby said he remembered one photographer who, after taking a photograph, shouted "she’s alive", and then tried to push the other photographers away.

Mr Burnett asked him: "It appeared to you he wanted to stop the others taking photographs?" Mr Dalby replied: "Yes."

Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, were killed in the crash along with the driver, Henri Paul, on August 31, 1997.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Time-worn Freddie gives up Test matches
• Brighton company 'involved in cyber attack'
• The art of survival: it’s all in the mind