Twenty-five years have passed since the news of Princess Diana dying in a horror crash threw the entire world in shock. Now the owner of the Mercedes she died in wants the car back.
The car belonged to a company from Paris, Etoile Limousines, owned by Jean-Francois Musa. A quarter of a century after the crash, he still has no idea what happened to the car that slammed against the 13th pillar of Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, on August 31st,1997, with Lady Diana on board. “It’s legally mine and I want it back,” he tells the French authorities via Mirror.co.uk. “It should have returned by now,” he insists.
The wreck could be worth up to 10 million pounds ($1,147,525), experts claim. Jean-Francois Musa believes it should be on display in a museum honoring the princess who tragically lost her life at 36. But royals would rather have it disposed of discretely. This is what increases speculations regarding the conspiracy theory according to which the princess’s crash was not just an accident. Furthermore, Diana’s fiance’s father, billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, claimed that MI6 had been behind the incident.
Five years ago, when the Mercedes was last heard of, it was in a shipping container in a police car pound near Creteil, on the outskirts of Paris. Someone working there told The Mirror the sedan was moved years ago.
Drunk and under the influence of alcohol and anti-depression medication, driver Henri Paul has been deemed as “grossly negligent.” He lost control of the car while trying to get away from the paparazzi chasing the Princess of Wales from the moment she stepped out of the Ritz Hotel.
Mr. Musa though says it was not a plot, but a routine road accident. But years after the crash, a mystery fire destroyed parts of the car. French authorities decided not to make this public. Daily Mirror revealed the information seven years after the blaze. A Fiat Uno had collided with the sedan and had left white marks on the driver’s door. That exact door burned in the fire.
Five years ago, a French documentary reported that the Mercedes had been a write-off in 1994. An escaped convict stole it when new, lost control and rolled it several times outside Paris. The insurance company declared it a write-off. But instead of being scraped, it was repaired by a mechanic and put back on the road. The Ritz Hotel in Paris acquired it soon after.
