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Film from paparazzi may yield clues to crash
Police hold photographers who pursued Diana's car
PARIS (CNN) -- Police seeking clues in the crash that killed Princess Diana were developing about 20 rolls of film they seized from seven photographers accused of chasing the car she was riding in, sources close to the probe said Sunday.
Authorities were looking into whether any of the paparazzi -- commercial photographers who trail celebrities and sell their pictures to the highest bidder -- may have caused the accident.
Also killed were Diana's companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver. A bodyguard in the car, Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously hurt, but his injuries were not described as life-threatening. He was considered authorities' best hope as they try to reconstruct the accident.
The seven free-lance photographers were working mainly for the Stills, Gamma and Sipa agencies, according to police sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Police didn't release their names. Television reports said six of the detainees were French, and the other was Macedonian.
Photographers were to be held overnight
Police detained the seven at the crash scene early Sunday, then placed them in formal custody and questioned them throughout the day. None had been charged with a crime. Police also impounded two motorcycles and a scooter.
Police can legally hold the photographers for up to 48 hours without charges, and the police sources said they would spend Sunday night in custody.
However, even if the paparazzi are cleared of any direct role in causing the crash, France has a "Good Samaritan" law that makes it a crime to fail to help someone in danger, authorities said.
A special police unit normally assigned to high-priority cases, such as those involving terrorism, was placed in charge of the investigation.
"This investigation will determine more particularly the role that these people may have played in the genesis of the accident," the Paris prosecutor's office said in a brief statement issued Sunday afternoon.
France Info radio said at least some of the photographers took pictures before help arrived -- and one of the photographers was beaten at the scene by horrified witnesses.
Source: Car was traveling well over 100 kph (62 mph)
Witnesses said the photographers, riding motorcycles, had swarmed the Mercedes sedan before it entered the tunnel along the Seine River, where the crash occurred seconds later.
A source close to the investigation said the Mercedes sedan entered the tunnel at well over 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph). The speed limit was 50 kph (31 mph). Diana and Fayed were not believed to be wearing seatbelts, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Preliminary investigations show that the princess's car was being chased by journalists who were trying to take photographs," Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said.
"It appears that the driver lost control of the car while driving at high speed," he added.
French radio reported that the chauffeur was an employee of the Ritz Hotel, where Diana and Fayed had dined earlier Saturday evening.
The crash turned the car into a heap of twisted steel. Investigators spent several hours early Sunday measuring the skid marks left by the vehicle before it slammed into a concrete piling, spun and struck the tunnel wall. The skid marks were 20-30 meters (yards) long.
Al Fayeds' lawyer to file lawsuit
"We want the entire truth," the lawyer for Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi Fayed's father, told French television Sunday evening. The lawyer, Bernard Dartevelle, called for a separate judicial inquiry.
"The investigation is in good hands ... I feel the least (authorities) can do is to open a justice probe for manslaughter," he added. "It seems to me to be a case of involuntary homicide."
Dartevelle told Reuters the family had directed him to sue specific helicopter operators, news agencies and photographers for damages, because they had placed Diana and Dodi Fayed at risk as they tried to snap pictures of their vacation in southern France.
He declined to name those involved, but said he would file a lawsuit in Paris on Monday, and would await the outcome of the police probe into the crash before acting in that case.
In Germany, Mercedes-Benz spokesman Wolfgang Inhester said Sunday that the company had classified the accident as "catastrophic" because of the speed at impact.
"That means no matter what car the passengers would have been riding in, there was no chance of survival," he said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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