Diana was not wearing her seat belt at the time of crash

LONDON: As the Diana inquest enters its second month, a senior police investigator has claimed that the Princess of Wales and her boyfriend would have survived if they had been wearing seat belts when their car crashed in a Paris underpass ten years back.
 
Senior accident expert Anthony Read told the jury at the inquest that he could 'almost guarantee' that the couple would have survived had they been strapped in and traveling at the speed limit when their Mercedes crashed in the Alma tunnel in 1997, the 'Daily Mail' reported here on Wednesday.
 
A probe by the British police has established that no one was wearing belts in the car at the time of the crash.
 
The revelation came as the inquest was told that the paparazzi, who had pursued Diana and Dodi through the French capital on the night of the fatal car crash, would not to compelled to appear before the jury.
 
The majority of the photographers, who were at the scene moments after the crash have refused to give evidence.
 
Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker had on Tuesday said that the French authorities were asked to allow photographers to testify by videolink and even British Justice Secretary Jack Straw had intervened in the matter.
 
"However, the paparazzi will not be compelled to appear and, as I have already explained, I have no power to compel them to give evidence," he said.
 
Meanwhile the lawyer for Dodi's father Harrods boss Mohammed Al-Fayed, Michael Mansfield, has attacked the French authorities' refusal to reconsider making the paparazzi giving evidence at the inquest.
 
"The fundamental reasons (for the refusal) are inadequate and we would ask that further negotiation is embraced on this front," he was quoted as saying.