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Diana hurt, friend killed in crash
August 30, 1997
Web posted at: 9:19 p.m. EDT (0119 GMT)PARIS (CNN) -- Britain's Princess Diana was seriously injured and her friend and Harrod's heir Dodi Fayed was killed Sunday in a Paris car crash, police said.
The driver of the princess' car also was killed in the crash, police told news services.
There was no immediate word on the nature of Diana's injuries, nor where she was hospitalized.
The crash occurred shortly after midnight in a tunnel along the Seine River at the Pont de l'Alma bridge while paparazzi on motorcycles were following her car at high speeds, police said.
The paparazzi were believed to have contributed to the crash, according to news reports.
CNN Paris Bureau Chief Jim Bittermann said the highway, one of several high-speed arteries into the heart of Paris, typically has very little traffic around midnight Saturday.
There is no barrier between incoming and outgoing traffic, Bittermann said; if a car went out of control it would be nearly certain to swerve into oncoming traffic.
The crash trapped several people in a pileup, France Info radio reported. Police cars and vans with flashing lights filled the site outside the tunnel and officers blocked off the area.
The car was apparently traveling without an escort.
A fourth person in the car, one of the princess' bodyguards, was seriously injured and freed from the wreckage, police said.
Diana, whose divorce from Britain's Prince Charles became official last year, had been on vacation in the south of France with Fayed last week. It was believed to be her third romantic vacation with Fayed.
Speculation surrounding Diana and the Egyptian millionaire has been rampant ever since she was spotted embracing Fayed on a Mediterranean cruise earlier this month.
Fayed and the princess are said to have met about 10 years ago, when he played polo against Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne.
Films that Fayed has produced or co-produced include the 1981 Oscar-winning "Chariots of Fire," "The World According to Garp," "F/X" and "Hook."
Reportedly a multi-millionaire, Fayed had homes in London, New York, Los Angeles and Switzerland as well as a garage full of luxury cars. His 1994 marriage lasted just eight months.
Fayed's father, self-made billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, owns London's fabled Harrod's department store, the Hotel Ritz in Paris and has 11 homes around the world.
Mohamed Al-Fayed had been friendly with Diana's father, the late Lord Spencer.
Paris Bureau Chief Jim Bittermann, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related sites:
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- The Diana Years - People Magazine
- British Monarchy Official Site - Diana Information
- (Unauthorized) Princess Diana Page
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