of their printing service, all that it takes is to send a single information message, SMS or text to reach them all in just one second.
6) Like the secret services, also the most obstinate paparazzi have a tiny bug-radar device, easily applicable to the vehicle they have decided to stalk or intercept. The waves emitted by the device are reflected at a specific frequency to a central body, the waves then return to the receiver that automatically compares the visual field between the emission frequency and the one received. The transmitter can then trace the location of the trajectory while the vehicle is in motion, follow its movements or identify the shape, the position and the area in which it is situated at that moment.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12.20 am: The Mercedes with the foursome, Diana, Dodi and their two bodyguards, moves away at full speed. A few paparazzi immediately take some pictures. Some witnesses said: «the Mercedes was chased by a single car and two motorcycles». But this information results to be fake, in reality the chase was done by an entire procession formed by a dozen motorcycles and cars. In contrast to what someone asserted, during the whole ride Trevor Reese-Jones never buckled up his seat-belt.
The Mercedes of the couple is now stopped in front of the red traffic light of Place de la Concorde. From inside the vehicle Diana, a bit frightened, looks all around her. On of the paparazzi will later say: «It seemed that, among the chasers, the Princess identified someone she knew very well because she turned to Dodi pointing towards the outside of the window». Seeing that, despite the traffic light still being red, Dodi orders to his driver to leave immediately.
From this moment on, until reaching the Alma Tunnel, the speed of the Mercedes will increase considerably. Some have stated that a top speed of 150 to 180 km per hour has to not be excluded. It is very dangerous to cross the big and crowded roadway of Place de la Concorde, it intersects with other stop lights connected with dozens of longitudinal lanes. A French journalist has confirmed that, according with the data registered by a speed camera located about 400 meters before the entrance of the Alma Tunnel, Diana's Mercedes was travelling at 196 km per hour. Along that section of the Along Seine the maximum allowed speed is 50 km per hour. However, the Mercedes was able to break away from the parade of paparazzi.
1997 Sunday, August 31, around 12:22 am: Right before entering the tunnel of death, the Eiffel Tower, all light up, is the last panoramic view that the couple is able to admire in the night sky of Paris.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:23 and 56 seconds am: The motorcyclist Eric Pètel (one of the eye witnesses) is overtaken by Diana's Mercedes, shortly before it entered the Alma Tunnel.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:23 and 57 seconds am: A white Fiat Uno, from the right roadway parallel to Rue J. Goujon, is about to enter the Along Seine on at full speed, to later come across with Diana's Mercedes. The Fiat has a broken exhaust and emits a high pitch and crackling noise, like the stuttering of powerful rounds of gunfire.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:23 and 58 seconds am: From this moment, the sudden entrance of the Fiat combined with its deafening noise, catches Henri Paul by surprise, alarming him. In an attempt to avoid the impact on the right side, The Mercedes deviates quickly to the left and starts drifting. The driver Henri Paul is unable to slow down his vehicle or to control its direction and continues his ultra-high-speed race zigzagging.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:23 and 59 seconds am: François Levistre (one of the eye witnesses) sees Diana's Mercedes skidding, from the rear-view mirror of his grey Ford Ka. To better see what is happening, he immediately parks his car at the end of the tunnel on the right, but he does not get out of his vehicle.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:24 am: The Mercedes enters the tunnel. Right now, immediately after having swiped along the pillar No. 3, the Mercedes with Diana on board crashes fatally against the pillar No. 13 of the Alma Tunnel.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:24 and 2 seconds am: Every vehicle that was inside the tunnel during the dash and the crash, gets out of it, including the white Fiat Uno. Later, through various testimonies it will be identified that this Fiat belongs to Le Van Thanh.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 00:24 and 3 seconds: In the lit and silent darkness of the tunnel, a strange atmosphere reigns. The Mercedes is alone, placed sideways facing the opposite driving direction, it is almost at the centre of the roadway, but closer to the right side of the wall and with the left wheel on the side-walk. Its nose is quite crumpled and the engine is smoking. On the ground there are patches of oil and water, but very little petrol. Both headlights are still on and the muffler, still attached, is hanging to the ground. The horn is still on and it owls uninterruptedly.
1997 Sunday, August 31, 12:24 and 15 seconds or so am: After entering the tunnel with his motorcycle, Eric Pètel approaches the recently crashed Mercedes. After looking inside (without opening the doors) and after seeing the four victims, he immediately hops on the saddle of his motorcycle and exits the tunnel to alert the police from a phone booth that is located right above the tunnel.
1997 Sunday, August 31, around 12:25 am: Also François Levistre leaves the tunnel with his Ford Ka.
1997 Sunday, August 31, around 12:25 and 30 seconds or so am: To the sight of the Mercedes, smoking and howling, in the middle of the road, other vehicles, and the motorized procession of photojournalists behind them, stopped at the entrance to the tunnel, blocking the entry of both lanes. The first photojournalist that got closer (on foot) to the damaged Mercedes is named Serge Arnal. The second is the photographer Romuald Rat, followed by his colleague Christian Martinez.
1997 Sunday, August 31, around 12:26 am: A vehicle stops on the opposite lane of the tunnel, it is Dr. Frèdèric Maillez, who was there by chance. He approaches the Mercedes and returns to his car, right after, to take an oxygen mask. In the meantime he calls for medical aid. Having returned to the victims, he assists the Princess right away. Diana is alive, she talks, but has an internal haemorrhage in the lungs.
MINUTES OF THE CRASH
Sunday morning of August 31 1997 was just born, in the dark of the night which anticipated the dawn. Precisely at 12:24 am, Lady Diana remained victim of a serious car accident, in the Alma Tunnel, located in the centre of Paris. The armoured Mercedes, that transported Diana and Dodi, had left the Ritz Hotel only four minutes before the final impact against the deadly 13th pillar of the tunnel. The vehicle was driven by Henri Paul, beside him there was Trevor Rees-Jones. Soon before entering the fatal underpass, in order to avoid a sudden impact with another vehicle on the right side, the Mercedes violently swerved to the left.
With its high speed, the Mercedes started to skid, swiping along the third pillar, which is at the beginning of the tunnel on the left of the two lanes roadway, this sudden swerving caused the opening of the airbags of the car, that proceeded rapidly, zigzagging. At this point, the driver's natural instinct forced him to brake all of a sudden, and while being at the beginning of the slope, the vehicle collided violently and frontally against the thirteenth pillar on the left of the gallery.
Right after the impact, the Mercedes, still in movement, spun on itself to later stop, facing the opposite driving direction, almost in the middle of the roadway. The front face of the vehicle is crumpled, the engine is smoking but the passenger cockpit was still intact. The continuous acoustic sound of the horn remained on, filling the void of the silence, left there screaming about the happened tragedy with a resonant echo.
Of the two bodyguards that were in the front seats, the diver died instantly and the other was severely injured. First rescuers found the body of Diana alive, but whining inside the vehicle, while on her left lied the body of her last companion, that died right after an improvised paramedic performed CPR on him for about 10 minutes.
