Four boys who died on a camping trip in North Wales after their car came off of the road into a ditch died of drowning, an inquest heard today.
Jevon Hirst, 16, Harvey Owen, 16, Wilf Fitchett, 17 and Hugo Morris, 18, were on the A4085 heading for Snowdonia when their silver Ford Fiesta left the road a few miles north of Garreg, Gwynedd.
Their car was found on November 21. An inquest was told today that a provisional cause of death was given as drowning.
The disappearance of the four boys, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, sparked a huge search after they failed to make contact with their families on Monday November 20.
They may have lain undiscovered for up to two days after leaving Harlech at around 11am on November 19, a Sunday, en route to Snowdonia.
Police cordon off an entrance to the A4085 road in Garregg, Gwynedd on Tuesday November 21
Hugo Morris (left) and Jevon Hirst (right) were killed when the car they were travelling in came off of the road sometime between November 19 and 21
Wilf Fitchett (left) and Harvey Owen (right) were also killed. A provisional cause of death for all four boys has been given as drowning
None of the teenagers’ families attended the brief four-minute hearing in which Kate Robertson, HM Coroner for North West Wales, stated the provisional cause.
The Sun reports that the coroner said a police investigation was ongoing.
She said: ‘A police investigation is ongoing. Only when it’s complete will a full inquest take place.
‘At this time, speculation is unhelpful and compassion will achieve more than media curiosity.
‘I offer the families of Wilf, Jevon, Hugo and Harvey my sincerest condolences.’
A missing persons report was filed on Monday – and on the morning of Tuesday November 23 their upturned car was discovered in a ditch at the side of the A4085.
Locals say the ditch regularly fills with rainwater and may have been as much as six feet deep following heavy rainfall at the time that the boys disappeared.
This is a breaking story, more to follow.