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US poll: Di's death no accident
15/08/2007 11:52 - (SA)
New York - Many people believe the
death of Britain's Princess Diana was not an accident, according
to a US poll carried out as the 10th anniversary of her fatal
car crash approaches.
Forty-three percent of people questioned in the survey
released on Tuesday expressed doubts and nearly a third believed
investigations into the events leading to her death, in a
high-speed car crash in Paris on August 31 1997, should continue.
"There is a good deal of polling data that indicates that
the public is somewhat sceptical of official government
statements and press reports," said Tim Brooks, the executive
vice-president of research at Lifetime Television, an American
network which carried out the poll.
"They tend to want more information especially if there is
any question at all about an event like this. So, for 43%
to say it may not have been an accident, I think is in line with
the result you get when talking about a situation that is not
entirely clear," he added in an interview.
Official British inquest
Diana, her boyfriend Dodi al Fayed and their driver were
killed when their car smashed into a wall in a Paris road
tunnel. A French investigation concluded that the chauffeur was
drunk and driving too fast.
Mohamed al Fayed, Dodi's father and the owner of London's
luxury department store Harrods, has argued that the couple were
victims of a plot hatched by British security services.
An official British inquest into Diana's death is due to
begin later this year.
Thirty-five percent of the 1 010 people questioned by
Lifetime, which will air a fictional movie The Murder of
Princess Diana to mark the anniversary, said she would be
remembered for her charity work, while 18% believed it
would be for her marriage to Prince Charles.
Nearly 70% said she probably would have remarried if
had not died so young - she was aged 36 - and 24%
believed she would have had more children.
"The death of Lady Diana was also a personal marker for a
majority of women. Slightly more than half the women polled
remember exactly where they were when they learned she's died,"
Lifetime said in a statement.
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South Africa
