Four teenagers found dead in car in north Wales drowned, says coroner - The Guardian

Four teenagers drowned after the vehicle they were travelling in left a road in north Wales, a coroner has said.

The inquests into the deaths of Jevon Hirst, 16, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Hugo Morris, 18, all from the Shropshire area, were opened and adjourned on Wednesday.

None of the teenagers’ families attended the four-minute hearing in which Kate Robertson, HM coroner for north-west Wales, stated the provisional cause of their deaths was drowning.

The coroner said the students were all formally identified to police by family members.

She said: “The four young men were travelling in a vehicle along the A4085 at Llanfrothen when the vehicle has left the road. The circumstances of which resulted in the deaths of all four occupants.

“Postmortem examinations have been undertaken and the provisional causes of death provided, pending inquests.”

A police investigation was continuing, she said, and the inquests were adjourned until investigations are completed. No date has been set for the full hearings.

The four boys had travelled to Snowdonia (Eryri) in Wales for an overnight camping trip, and were reported missing by their families when they failed to return home on Monday 20 November.

Their bodies were discovered in their upturned and partially submerged vehicle off the side of a road in Gwynedd the following day, nearly 48 hours after they last made contact.

The car had crashed upside down into a ditch that had become swollen with water, and despite a police helicopter search, the vehicle was only spotted by a passenger in a recycling lorry.

The mother of Harvey Owen paid tribute on Friday to “the boy I absolutely adored”, saying the fact he “will always be 17 is unbearable to think of”.

Crystal Owen said: “There are absolutely no words to describe the pain we are feeling at the loss of the most precious soul.

“I’ve lost my boy, the boy I absolutely adored, and I can’t accept that I won’t be able to hold him again or tell him I love him again.”

The teenagers were school friends from Shrewsbury, studying A-levels at the town’s college, and dozens of their fellow pupils left flowers and tributes outside the college in their memory.

Photos showed dozens of local residents queueing up outside Crystal’s cake shop in the town on Friday, as her colleagues issued an appeal for support after a “significant reduction in sales” following news of the boys’ deaths.

“In such a difficult time, the people of Shropshire have come together to show their heartfelt care for Crystal and her family,” the shop said in a statement on social media.

On Thursday, police officers appealed for dashcam footage as they investigate how the car carrying the teenagers came off the road.

“A full and detailed investigation is under way to establish the cause of the collision,” Supt Simon Barrasford said: “Part of the investigation will also involve a full forensic vehicle examination and work is under way with our forensic collision investigation unit.”

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2023-11-29 11:00:00Z
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