PARIS NIGHT YIELDS FEW ANSWERS; WITNESSES DISAGREE ON DRIVER'S SOBRIETY, PAPARAZZI'S BEHAVIOR.

Byline: Jocelyn Noveck Associated Press 

Entering the Pont de l'Alma traffic tunnel at night, one of the last things you see is the floodlit Eiffel Tower.

The short ride to the tunnel from the Ritz Hotel had been a stunning one, with a view of the city's other floodlit treasures: the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe off to the right, the gold-domed Hotel des Invalides across the river to the left.

Four people were in the car: a driver and a bodyguard in front, the princess and her boyfriend in back. Behind them - it isn't clear how far - were several motorcycles and perhaps two cars bearing paparazzi.

Approaching the tunnel along the Seine River, the shining tower was just to the left.

Even through the tinted windows of a luxury car, it would have been hard not to look.

Seconds later, there was a huge crash - witnesses said it was like an explosion. It would soon reverberate around the world, but for a few minutes in the still night, there was only the insistent blare of a car horn, set off by the driver's slumped body, and then the clicking of camera shutters.

For the princess, after the spectacular city lights, there was only blackness.

10 p.m.: The evening begins for Diana and Dodi al-Fayed with dinner in the sitting room of the Imperial Suite at the Ritz. It is the best suite in the hotel, and no wonder: The hotel is owned by Dodi's father, Mohamed al-Fayed.

Dodi had a surprise in his pocket. A Paris jeweler had sold him an ``extraordinary'' diamond solitaire ring for $205,000, and it is at the Ritz that Dodi may have given it to Diana.

Is it an engagement ring? No one will ever know for sure.

But the day has been tense. The couple has been having problems with paparazzi ever since their midafternoon arrival in Paris. First, they trailed Diana and Dodi from Le Bourget Airport outside Paris, on their way to see Villa Windsor - a mansion that once housed the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and that Dodi's father has bought and renovated. The driver, Henri Paul, managed to shake the photographers.

Then, an attempt to have a 9:30 p.m. dinner at the chic Paris bistro Chez Benoit failed, when paparazzi again picked up the trail. Giving up, Diana and Dodi decide to dine at the Ritz, where there is better security.

10:08 p.m.: Henri Paul, No. 2 security man at the Ritz, arrives at the hotel after having been summoned on his cell phone at 10 p.m.

Paul spends the next two hours in the lobby area. At one point, he goes into the hotel bar and sits with two other security people at a table on the edge of the bar area. There is no security camera in the bar, but both Handley-Greaves and Michael Cole, an al-Fayed family spokesman, said interviews with hotel personnel showed no evidence that Paul was drinking.

12:07 a.m.: After dinner, as they leave the Imperial Suite, Diana and al-Fayed stop to discuss the paparazzi ``and the concern that the princess had that something would happen,'' Handley-Greaves says.

Diana and al-Fayed are headed to an apartment he owns off the Champs-Elysees, just near the Arc de Triomphe. Knowing paparazzi are outside, they've decided to use two decoy vehicles - a Range Rover and a Mercedes. They post the Range Rover outside the Ritz's main entrance, with Dodi's regular driver at the wheel.

They need a third car, so a rented Mercedes 280SL is called into service.

The car is known for its silky-smooth ride, but because of its weight, it isn't the best car for weaving in and out of traffic.

Diana and Dodi need a driver, too, and that's why Paul has been called in from home. Paul, 41, a native of France's Brittany region, is said to have received special training in Germany to drive the armored Mercedes.

Paris prosecutors say autopsy blood tests showed Paul was legally drunk, and judicial sources put the blood-alcohol level at 1.82 grams per liter - nearly four times the legal limit, and the equivalent of at least 10 shots of whiskey consumed in rapid succession.

Despite reports that Paul was a heavy drinker, at least two bartenders who knew him told The Associated Press they never saw signs of that.

12:20 a.m.: The couple leaves the Ritz from the back entrance, and climbs into the Mercedes.

The hotel video shows no paparazzi outside the back entrance, but the decoy ruse clearly hasn't worked.

With paparazzi in pursuit, the Mercedes travels down the Rue Cambon and turns right onto the colonnaded, boutique-lined Rue de Rivoli, with the Tuileries Gardens on the left. Arriving at the Place de la Concorde, it takes a left past the obelisk, allowing a view of the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe on the right as it makes its way to the banks of the Seine.

Here, some photographers say, Paul already is driving dangerously.

Already, he told the Liberation daily, ``the Mercedes was fishtailing dangerously and the driver didn't seem to be in control.''

Neither Diana nor al-Fayed is wearing a seat belt; only their bodyguard, sitting in the front passenger seat, is.

The Mercedes is heading along the river now, down the Cours de la Reine, then the Cours Albert Premier, where the approach to the tunnel lies.

About 12:25 a.m.: The Mercedes enters the 660-foot-long tunnel, probably to avoid traffic on the crowded Place de l'Alma. The tunnel is brightly lit, neon bulbs reflecting on the white-tiled walls.

The approach is dangerous at high speed. The road swerves slightly to the right, then to the left; then there is a quick dip.

The speed limit is 30 mph. A cab driver says he once tried the tunnel at 70 mph and was scared.

Just how fast does Paul take it?

Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the car's speedometer was found frozen at 196 kilometers per hour, or 121 mph.

Witnesses also have described the car as going well over 90 mph, perhaps close to 120 mph.

Police say the car, equipped with anti-lock brakes, left 53 feet of skid marks - another indication of high speed.

It isn't clear how many paparazzi are tailing the car, and at what distance.

Franck Levi of Rouen, in northern France, says he was driving ahead of Diana's Mercedes. Through his rear-view mirror, he says he saw a motorcycle cut in front of the car, then a blinding flash - perhaps from a camera - and then the car veering out of control, its headlights going ``to the left, to the right and again on the left.''

Seconds after the car enters the tunnel in the left westbound lane, it goes out of control, striking the 13th concrete pillar dividing the tunnel, rolls over and rebounds into the right wall. It then spins around. When the car stops, it is facing east - the direction it came from.

The driver's body is slumped over the horn. The impact is so great that parts of the radiator are reportedly found embedded in his body. Dodi al-Fayed, behind him on the left side of car, also is killed immediately.

Jack and Robin Firestone, tourists from Long Island, N.Y., are walking near the tunnel when they hear the awful noise. They run in.

``You could see a terrible accident had happened and there were photographers, like, all over the place - swarming,'' says Robin Firestone.

The couple sees a half-dozen motorcycles parked near the wreckage, and photographers were ``right up to the window,'' she says.

A police report says photographer Christian Martinez pushed back the first police officer to rush to the scene, with the comment: ``I worked in Bosnia.''

Before rescuers arrive, photographer Romuald Rat is seen opening the door of the Mercedes and leaning in. He says later he took Diana's pulse to see if she was still alive. Police accuse him, along with the others, of blocking rescue efforts and not aiding the victims - a crime in France.

Dr. Frederic Maillez says Diana ``was unconscious, moaning and gesturing in every direction'' as she fought for breath.

``There were 10 or 15 photographers around, and they were snapping photos nonstop, but I cannot say they hindered my work,'' he says.

About 12:40 a.m.: Police and firefighters arrive. Diana and the bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, are still alive.

Police arrest six photographers and one motorcyclist, confiscating their film and cellular phones.

Rescuers need to cut through the roof of the car to get the victims out. They finally extract Diana through the back.

2 a.m.: Diana is bleeding heavily from the chest when she arrives at Hospital La Pitie Salpetriere, along with the bodyguard. She quickly goes into cardiac arrest.

Doctors close a wound to the left pulmonary vein, then try to revive her with two hours of chest massage - first externally and then directly to the heart. It fails.

4 a.m.: Diana is declared dead.

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Photo

Photo: A Ritz Hotel security camera captures Dodi al-Fayed, right, with his arm around Princess Diana as they speak with driver Henri Paul, left, shortly before the crash that killed them Aug. 31.

Associated Press