Updated

A witness has told an inquest jury how he heard Diana, Princess of Wales repeating the words "Oh, my God" immediately after the car crash that took her life.

Damian Dalby, a volunteer fireman at the time, was in Paris with his brother and a group of friends when they came across the aftermath of the crash.

Speaking via videolink from the French capital, Dalby told the inquest how he rushed over to the wreckage of the Mercedes, where photographers had already gathered.

He said: "There was smoke emanating from the vehicle. I wanted to stop the battery but I couldn't."

Ian Burnett, counsel for the inquest, asked him: "Was it right the lady in the car was trying to speak?"

Dalby replied: "Yes. She was saying, 'oh, my God; oh, my God."'

Burnett asked him if it was right that he did not speak English at that time, to which Dalby replied: "That is true even today."

"There was a tourist round there and I asked him to translate to the bodyguard not to move because the emergency services were arriving," he added.

Dalby gave evidence using a transcript of a statement he made to police hours after the crash.

In the statement, he described the translator as dark-skinned, possibly North African, and wearing a suit and tie.

Dalby said he remembered one photographer, who, after taking a photograph, shouted: "She's alive," and then tried to push the other photographers away.

Burnett asked him: "It appeared to you he wanted to stop the others taking photographs?"

Dalby replied: "Yes."