London, Oct 24 : One of the photographers to reach the site of Princess Diana’s fatal car crash in Paris, called out to another photog, “She's dead, hurry up,” her inquest has heard.

According to eyewitness, Frenchman Yannick Chenna, the man jumped off the back of a scooter and opened the door of Diana’s Mercedes.

The second photographer, who was riding a scooter, then approached the Mercedes, Chenna, told the High Court in London.

The motorist, who had been driving through the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris with his girlfriend on August 31, 1997 when he encountered the horrific crash, told the jury that he saw many scooters halting next to the Mercedes.

One of the riders, he said, remained on his vehicle but there were also three people on foot around the wrecked car, reports the Daily Mail.

"The three people on foot were going round the car and were looking inside it. The person on the scooter, still behind the handlebars, was about 10 metres in front of the vehicle and was watching,” Chenna said in a statement to French authorities at the time, which was read to the jury on Oct 22.

He said the scooter rider began leaving but the photographer who had opened the car door ran after him shouting, "she's dead, hurry up.”

When Chenna was shown a series of photographs of paparazzi at the scene, he said the man he saw open the door was photographer Romuald Rat, and the scooter rider was Serge Benhamou.

The court also heard from an eyewitness who said the "swarm" of paparazzi on motorbikes pursuing Princess Diana may have caused the crash.

Brian Anderson, a U.S. businessman who was travelling in a taxi behind the Princess's car, explained how he was overtaken by three motorbikes which were just two feet behind the Mercedes.

"The bikes were in a cluster, a swarm,” Anderson said.

When asked later by a U.S. news channel if he thought the motorbikes caused the crash, Anderson replied: "Yes, I believe that they contributed to something happening that caused the car to lose control."

Seconds later he said he saw a bright burst of light followed by the sound of an explosion as the Mercedes crashed. Anderson, who was returning from a dinner with friends that night, said French police had dismissed his evidence.

The inquest is gathering evidence on the deaths of Diana and Dodi, whose father believes they were murdered in an Establishment plot to stop them marrying. (ANI)