Ana Simao told how photographers were "on the car" as she and Antonio Lopes-Borges arrived at the scene, among the first to find the crashed Mercedes in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel shortly after midnight on August 31 1997.

They had been travelling in a green Peugeot from Mr Lopes-Borges brother's home in the Opera district of Paris to his home in Boulogne, when they came across the accident.

Speaking via video link from the French Court of Appeal in Paris, the couple separately recounted their evidence to the inquest jury, sitting in Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

Ms Simao, told the jury she originally thought somebody was "making a movie" when she saw the crash scene.

She said: "I thought it was a movie."

Describing the scene, she added: "The klaxon was noisy, but also the windows were broken and the air bags were out."

She said that "young people" arriving from the other lane and tried to open the car's doors.

Both witnesses were questioned over the presence of photographers in the tunnel.

Ms Simao told the jury she saw two photographers at the site.

"They were taking pictures," she said.

When asked how close to the car they were, she replied: "They were on the car."

Mr Lopes-Borges, a Portuguese national living in France, said he remembered seeing one, but that another arrived later.

He said: " The same as the other, he took pictures and after taking pictures, I don't remember if it was the first or the second one, but he took his cellphone and called somebody."

Asked by Edmund Lawson QC, for the Metropolitan Police if these photographers did anything to help those in the car, Mr Lopes-Borges replied: "No."

The couple also described a man coming towards them in the tunnel, telling them to reverse their car because there might be an explosion.

Mr Lopes-Borges, who gave evidence first this afternoon, said: "There was a guy, he looked like an Egyptian, and he told us to go back and he told us can you please go back because there is going to be an explosion.

"As we had already had terrorist attacks in Paris, I thought it could be a terrorist attack."

But he denied telling a friend after the event that he thought there had been an assassination, although he did say there could have been a terrorist attack.

Ms Simao said in her evidence Mr Lopes-Borges had thought it could be a terrorist attack.

Asked by Ian Burnett, counsel to the inquest, if Mr Lopes-Borges had used the word "attentat" which refers to an attack, Ms Simao said he may have done.

The jury was told both witnesses had seen one other car in the tunnel that night, although their memories of it differed slightly.

Ms Simao said she had seen a white car, which she said was ahead of her and Mr Lopes-Borges's vehicle.

"It moved between the pillar and the Mercedes," she said.

Asked by Mr Burnett how many people were in the car, she said: "I think if I remember well, there was only the driver."

Mr Lopes-Borges said a small car had arrived from the right, but he did not know what colour it was because it was dark.

Mr Lopes-Borges also gave evidence of seeing a "big German car" earlier at traffic lights in the Place de la Concorde.

He said: "I saw that the car went very fast and other cars followed."

One of the vehicles, a four-wheel drive, bumped his car slightly as it moved off, Mr Lopes-Borges said.

Ms Simao said she was aware of a big black car and a smaller one as they approached the expressway after the Place de la Concorde.

"They were really speeding up and they forced us to go on the right hand lane," she said.

The hearing continues.