Diana photographers 'on crash car'

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Ana Simao told how photographers were "on the car" as she and Antonio Lopes-Borges arrived at the scene, among the first to find the crashed Mercedes in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel shortly after midnight on August 31 1997.

They had been travelling in a green Peugeot from Mr Lopes-Borges brother's home in the Opera district of Paris to his home in Boulogne, when they came across the accident.

Speaking via videolink from the French Court of Appeal in Paris, the couple separately recounted their evidence to the inquest jury, sitting in Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

Ms Simao, told the jury she originally thought somebody was "making a movie" when she saw the crash scene.

Describing the scene, she added: "The klaxon was noisy, but also the windows were broken and the air bags were out. Also, there was traffic from the other lane. Our lane was stopped but the other lane was not stopped so there was some traffic."

She said that "young people" arriving from the other lane, tried to open the doors to the car.

Both witnesses were questioned over the presence of photographers in the tunnel.

Ms Simao told the jury she saw two photographers at the site taking pictures. When asked how close to the car they were, she replied: "They were on the car."

Mr Lopes-Borges, a Portuguese national living in France, was asked by Edmund Lawson QC, for the Metropolitan Police if these photographers did anything to help those in the crashed car, he replied: "No."