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Jurors Tour Scene Of Diana Crash

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By ANGELA DOLAND, The Associated Press

Published: October 9, 2007

PARIS - The roar of Paris rush hour died down, giving way to eerie quiet. With traffic halted, jurors in a British inquest ventured by foot into a dark underpass and came to a halt before the scarred, dented pillar where Princess Diana's Mercedes crashed 10 years ago.

The 11 jurors retraced Diana's final moments Monday, collecting memories to help them piece together how she and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, died on Aug. 31, 1997.
Lord Justice Scott Baker, heading the inquest, asked jurors to absorb the sights: the back door of the Ritz Hotel, where Diana and her lover slipped away for their final ride; the flow of traffic on the Place de la Concorde; the slope and twist of the Pont de l'Alma underpass, where their speeding car slammed into a concrete pillar. Driver Henri Paul also died in the crash.

Under British law, inquests are held when someone dies unexpectedly, violently or of unknown causes. This inquest is to determine when, where and how Diana and Fayed were killed. It opened last week and is expected to last no more than six months.

Much of Monday's itinerary focused on the underpass, across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower.

Baker stopped before the tunnel's 13th pillar - where the Mercedes slammed to a stop - and gazed at it silently. A chunk of concrete was gouged off near its base.

Baker did not say whether that was caused by the crash 10 years ago; he merely urged jurors to look around.

Camera crews were posted throughout Paris to capture the buses as they sped around under police escort.

The tour was marked by a few surreal moments.

As a bus arrived at the Ritz Hotel for the inquest, it collided with its own police outrider, knocking him off his motorcycle.

Moments later, a loud bang echoed across the square as a bus tire burst.

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