London, Nov 29: Princess Diana saw her lover Dodi Al Fayed dying after their Mercedes crashed in a Paris road tunnel, the inquest into their deaths has heard.

French policeman Sebastien Dorzee, the first member of the emergency services to reach the scene of the crash, said Diana mumbled "My God" when she realised what had happened.

Dorzee told the jury that the paparazzi who had chased the car into the tunnel were "vicious and repellent", constantly insulting him and arguing with each other.

He also revealed that Diana's head was between the two front seats, facing sideways, "and she could see her boyfriend just in front of her".

"Blood was coming out of her mouth and nose,' he said in a statement made shortly after the crash. You could see a deep wound to her forehead,” the Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.

"The Princess had half turned round in relation to her initial position and her head was between the two front seats, facing sideways and she could see her boyfriend just in front of her.

"She moved, her eyes were open, speaking to me in a foreign language. I think that she said 'My God' on seeing her boyfriend dying. At the same time she was rubbing her stomach. She must have been in pain.

"She turned her head towards the front of the car, saw the driver and then I think she had an even better realisation of what was happening. She became agitated. A few seconds later she looked at me. Then she put her head down again and closed her eyes,” he added.

In an attempt to get Diana to regain consciousness, the officer leant into the car to tap her on the cheek and take her pulse.

Later the ambulance arrived to take her to Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, where the princess died after emergency surgery.

Lieutenant Dorzee's recollections of the night of August 31, 1997, were read from a series of statements to the inquest yesterday at the High Court in London.

Dorzee said he had to struggle with paparazzi who were trying to take pictures of the scene as he tried to help the dying princess.

"I maintained this position, all the while trying to get the photographers, who were going at one another and insulting me, out of the way," he said.

Describing them as "vicious and repellent" he said the paparazzi repeatedly insulted him and argued with each other, and one was overheard saying to another: "It's your fault."

"They were vicious and repellent. At no time did a photographer call the emergency services or come to lend a hand,” he said.

Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and the couple's chauffeur Henri Paul died in the crash, in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, in the early hours of August 31, 1997. (ANI)