31 August 1997- Diana Dies In Car Crash - news report

DIANA, Princess of Wales, was killed with her companion Dodi Fayed early today, after their car crashed in Paris while being chased by paparazzi photographers. The couple’s driver was also killed and a bodyguard injured in the crash, which happened in a road tunnel beside the river Seine.

The 36-year-old Princess was taken to the intensive care ward of the nearby Pitie-Salpetriere hospital, where she died of a lung haemorrhage following surgery soon after 4am. Initial reports said she had been in a "distressed state", but able to walk from the mangled wreckage of the Mercedes 600 limousine, which was said to have hit a wall and turned over.

First reports had indicated that she suffered head injuries, a broken arm and serious leg injuries. Surgeons discovered that the Princess’s coronary artery was ruptured when they went to carry out a tracheotomy. Her condition was first described as serious, then grave. Then, shortly after 4.30am, the Foreign Office and French officials announced that the Princess had died.

Shock at the accident was coupled with revulsion at the apparent circumstances of the crash. Paris police arrested seven photographers, and one was reportedly beaten up by angry passers-by amid the confusion.

News of the the Princess’s death was passed to the Royal Family by the French Ambassador, who telephoned the Queen’s Private Secretary at Balmoral in Scotland, where the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and Princes William and Harry are spending their summer holidays.

Prince Charles and the Queen were "deeply shocked and distressed by this terrible news", Buckingham Palace said. The Prince told his sons of their mother’s death soon after he was informed. Prince Charles and Princess Diana were divorced a year ago last Thursday.

The crash happened near the Pont de l’Alma, a bridge over the river Seine to the west of the city soon after midnight. The high-speed pursuit ended in a crash in the tunnel trapping several people in the pile-up.

Tony Blair, who was woken in Downing Street, said: "I am utterly devastated. The whole of our country, all of us, will be in a state of shock and mourning. Diana was a wonderful, warm and compassionate person who people, not just in Britain, but throughout the world loved and will be mourned as a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, particularly her two sons, and with all the families bereaved in this quite appalling tragedy."

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace, said the crash was "an accident waiting to happen". Michael Gibbons said he had had no official news on the crash. But he repeated the palace’s anger at the actions of photographers who pursue the Royal Family around the world.

The role of photographers in today’s crash is certain to re-open the debate surrounding new laws to protect privacy. The Princess was being driven by a security officer from the Ritz Hotel, according to early reports. The Ritz is owned by Dodi’s father Mohamed Fayed, also the owner of Harrods.

Officials said the Princess’s bodyguard was pulled from the wrecked car and was seriously injured. Other people were still trapped inside vehicles in the tunnel.

It is believed that the couple were heading for Dodi Fayed’s luxury residence in the plush 16th arrondissement in the western part of the capital, when the accident happened. Mr Fayed, aged 41, was reportedly given heart massage by the roadside, to no avail. His father flew to Paris in his private helicopter soon after being informed.

Mohamed Fayed, said the deaths were "appalling and quite needless". He added: "The world has lost a princess who is simply irreplaceable".