'Oh my God... Diana's last words' Last Updated: 12:01am BST 26/10/2007 Diana, Princess of Wales kept repeating the words, "Oh my God," as she lay dying, the inquest into her death has heard. Damian Dalby said that when he first saw the wreckage of the Mercedes, there were people around it taking photographs. Mr Dalby, at that time a volunteer fireman, told the hearing how he tried to help the princess with his brother Sebastien Pennequin. The pair were travelling to Paris with friends when they came across the crash in the Pont de l'Alma underpass. Via videolink from Paris, he told the inquest at the High Court in London: "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, QC, counsel to the inquest, asked him: "Was it right the lady in the car was trying to speak?" Mr Dalby said: "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. Mr Dalby replied: "That is true even today." He added: "There was a tourist around there and I asked him to translate to the bodyguard not to 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 a photographer shouting: "She's alive." He then tried to push the photographers away to stop them taking pictures." Mr Dalby added: "When I arrived I saw nobody. I shouted, 'Where is the doctor?' because I could see his car, but I couldn't see anybody." When the police arrived, they tried move the photographers away from the wreckage, Mr Dalby said. Mr Burnett asked him: "Did you hear a photographer say something to a policeman?" Mr Dalby said: "Yes, something like, 'We are earning our money out of that, please let us do our job.'?" Richard Keen, QC, representing the family of the car's driver Henri Paul, told Mr Dalby: "Even though this event was over 10 years ago, I have been asked to thank you for the assistance you attempted to give to the victims of the crash." The inquest continues. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/globa ... index/ndiana126.xml |