Four teenagers drowned after the vehicle they were travelling in left a road in north Wales, a coroner has said.
The investigations into the passing of Jevon Hirst, aged 16, Harvey Owen, aged 17, Wilf Fitchett, aged 17, and Hugo Morris, aged 18, all from the Shropshire region, were commenced and postponed on Wednesday.
Also read: Hugo Morris, Wilf Fitchett, Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen Cause of death
None of the teenagers’ families attended the four-minute hearing, at which Kate Robertson, the coroner for north-west Wales, stated that the provisional finding on the 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 lads journeyed to Snowdonia (Eryri) in Wales for an overnight camping adventure and were declared missing by their families when they didn’t come back home on Monday, November 20.
Their lifeless forms were found in their overturned and partly submerged vehicle alongside a road in Gwynedd the next day, almost two full days after they last communicated.
The car had crashed upside down into a ditch that had become swollen with water. The vehicle was 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 adolescents were buddies from Shrewsbury who attended the local college for their A-levels. Many of their classmates placed flowers and tributes outside the college to remember them.
Photos showed dozens of local residents queueing up outside Crystal Owen’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, law enforcement requested dashcam videos as they look into the circumstances surrounding how the vehicle carrying the teenagers veered 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.”
