http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-08/29/content_1053905.htm


　　LONDON, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- An inquest into the death of Princess Diana's boyfriend Dodi Fayed six years ago is to finally go ahead, local media reported Friday.

　　The date of the inquest, which would be the first official inquiry into the tragedy in Britain, will be announced early next week, said the reports.

　　Diana and Dodi were killed along with chauffeur Henri Paul when their Mercedes crashed in a Paris underpass on August 31, 1997. Diana, the ex-wife of Britain's heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, was 36. Dodi was 42.

　　"By early next week we should have a date," a spokesman for Surrey County Council was quoted by the Daily Mirror newspaper as saying.

　　The paper said Surrey coroner Michael Burgess, who is responsible for investigating suspicious royal deaths, will conduct the inquest, and a spokesman for the Prince of Wales said Charles will cooperate.

　　"This inquest is entirely a matter for the coroner," the paper quoted Charles' spokesman as saying.

　　However, the Surrey County Council told the BBC and Sky News that there are "no plans" for a joint inquest, meaning the probe will only be focused on Dodi's death.

　　Burgess is conducting the inquest in his role as Surrey coroner, not in his Royal role because Dodi was a Surrey resident, the spokesman for Surrey County Council was quoted by the BBC as saying.

　　A spokesman for Dodi's father, Egyptian-born tycoon Mohamed Al Fayed, welcomed the news which he said the father had been pressing for six years. The Harrods tycoon has always argued that Diana's death was a conspiracy.

　　A French judge closed a two-year probe into the crash in September 1999, concluding that the accident occurred because Diana's driver was drunk and was affected by anti-depressants. Enditem