LONDON, February 2: A British tabloid today published stills of a white car which was captured on video speeding away from the Ritz hotel in Paris in pursuit of Princess Diana's Mercedes minutes before it crashed.The Mirror said the four door, Citroen AX Saloon featured in the footage could be the mystery white car which French police have been looking for since the August 31 crash that killed Diana, friend, Dodi Fayed, and chauffeur, Henri Paul.
Investigators have been hunting for a white, Fiat Uno, which the Mirror says may now be the ``wrong'' car.
The video was shot by an Australian couple on vacation in Paris who were unaware of its importance until after they returned to their home in Adelaide, the paper said.
Kloe Papazahariakas and Vlad Borovac told the Mirror that the Citroen was one of a number of cars which raced after Diana as she left the Ritz with Fayed.
``Everything happened so quickly,'' the Mirror quoted Papazahariakis as saying.
The Mirrorpublished details of what the video footage showed on Saturday, but did not publish pictures of the car or name the two Australians until today's edition.
The paper said the couple had decided to go to the Ritz hotel, which was owned by Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, to have a drink on the night of August 31.
When they arrived, the couple saw a black Mercedes outside the hotel and found out that the crowd of photographers outside were waiting for Diana.The newspaper said that Papazahariakis provided a running commentary as she videoed events outside the hotel.
When the photographers realised that the black Mercedes outside the front entrance of the hotel was a decoy and that Diana and Dodi had left by a back exit, several cars, including the white Citroen, spanned full circle around the place vendome and sped away in pursuit. ``I got it all. They're chasing Princess Diana,'' the Mirror quoted Papazahariakis as saying as she shot the footage.
The newspaper published nine stills from thevideo, including an enlarged picture of the Citroen on its front page. On page 3, the Mirror published eight stills, including pictures of the Citroen and a jeep driving away from the hotel.Part of the Citroen's rear licence plate was visible, but the video image appears to be too far away and the car's speed makes it impossible to read the numbers, the paper said. A 400-page cFrench police report submitted in late December includes testimony that bolsters the theory that Diana's car sideswiped a small, white car just before losing control and crashing into a pillar in the Pont de L'alma traffic tunnel.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
