Family and friends have paid emotional tributes to the four boys who were found dead in an overturned and partially submerged car during in North Wales.
Sixth form students Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris were on a camping trip near Snowdonia National Park when they were reported missing on Sunday morning.
The teenagers, from Shrewsbury, were due home on Monday but none of them made contact with friends and family or were active on WhatsApp.
North Wales Police said four bodies had been recovered from a silver Ford Fiesta on the A4085 at Garreg, near Tremadog.
The car had left the ‘windy, narrow and steep’ road, flipped onto its roof and was partially covered in water following what appeared to be a ‘tragic accident’.
Now, the teens’ heartbroken loved ones are honouring the boys, with one’s girlfriend hailing him as the ‘sweetest’ and ‘most loving’ boy.
The boys were around 17 – the age that you can legally start driving in the UK.
Teenager friends Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris were last seen getting into a silver Ford Fiesta car on Sunday morning. They have been found dead
Police have cordoned off the A8045 near the village of Garreg
Locals reported that a helicopter had been searching the Penrhyndeudraeth area before heading toward Nantmor and Beddgelert. The car was found at Garreg
‘I love you so much baby,’ Wilf’s girlfriend said in a tribute on Instagram today. ‘I’m going to miss you forever.’
The teen hailed said her boyfriend was the ‘sweetest and most loving boy I’ve ever known,’ adding: ‘I hope you know how much I love you gorgeous.’
The girl’s mother said she was ‘absolutely heartbroken’ for her daughter and ‘all of the boys family involved’ (sic).
‘Wilf was such a lovely kind lad and treated [my daughter] in a way only a mother could hope her daughter b treated,’ the grieving mother said.
The woman added: ‘We will all miss u dearly Wilf. thank u 4 bringing so much love and happiness in2 [my daughter’s] life and I promise to look after her 4 u.’
Owain Llewelyn, superintendent of North Wales Police, said in a statement this afternoon: ‘Police officers located a Ford Fiesta on its roof, partially submerged in water.
‘Tragically, the bodies of four young males were found within the vehicle. The families of the missing boys have been informed. Our thoughts are with them at this desperate time.
‘While the search has concluded there is a search ongoing to formally identify those within the vehicle and understand what led to this tragic incident.’
Supt Llewelyn continued: ‘At present, this appears to have been a tragic accident, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the four young men at this very difficult time.
‘This has been an extensive search involving a number of different agencies and volunteers, and this is sadly not the outcome that any of us would have wanted. We would ask that the family be afforded the appropriate privacy and respect.’
Investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances, police said.
Police cordoned off a four mile stretch of the A4085 between the villages of Garreg and Port Aberglaslyn, near Porthmadog, north Wales.
It is understood the Fiesta was spotted by a member of the public this morning, shortly after 10am, around three miles north of Garreg, close to the start of a popular waterfall walking route, known as Croesor Waterfalls Hike.
The road is steep and very windy in parts and there is almost no mobile phone signal in the area.
A source told the Mail that a parent of one of the boys reported them missing when they failed to return home at around 3.10pm yesterday.
It is understood they travelled from their homes in Shrewsbury on Saturday night, arriving at Harlech at around 11pm. They stayed at an address in seaside town before heading to Snowdonia on Sunday morning.
The source said: ‘The plan seems to have been to camp in Snowdonia on Sunday evening, but it seems like they didn’t make it to a campsite.
‘The car looks has left the road on a bend, it seems the driver lost control abd ended up in a ditch.’
The alarm was only raised when they didn’t make it home on Monday afternoon.
Emyr Owen, who lives near the crash site, said that it had been ‘atrocious’ weather on the morning the boys went missing. He told the BBC that police began combing the area at 5am and closed the roads. Ambulances entered the cordon at around 1pm, followed by a police forensics team.
Manasa Boma, manager at The Royal Goat Hotel in Beddgelert, close to the scene, said: ‘Our handyman messaged me to say there had been a terrible accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who’s involved’.
A spokesman for the police said the car had been located ‘following information from a member of the public’.
Officers and other emergency services are currently at the scene and that they keeping the teenager’s families updated with information, they added.
Local councillor June Jones told Sky News: ‘I was hoping that they’d gone out camping wild and had no mobile signal. I was hoping very much that that is the reason why they haven’t been in contact – there’s not much mobile signal in this area and perhaps that is why’.
She said the ‘whole area is in complete shock’ and ‘everybody’s feelings are very much with the families at this time’.
‘It has been extremely wet and the rivers have been extremely high over the last few days. Obviously, it is November, the weather is bad. It is bad weather to be travelling in, especially with somebody who doesn’t know the roads very well’, she said.
Shrewsbury College has confirmed all four boys were all students there, working towards their A-levels.
‘The college’s immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the teenagers missing. This is a very worrying time, and we all want them to be found safe and well’.
It has emerged that the four were not experienced campers and only had a tent and sleeping bags with them.
The young men, believed to be from the Shrewsbury area, were due home from their trip on Monday morning but none of them have made contact with friends and family. Pictured: Wilf Henderson
North Wales Police launched an urgent hunt for the missing youngsters, with their worried parents driving to the area to help with the search after being left ‘frantic with worry’. Pictured: Jevon Hirst
Harvey Owen in a photo taken during a family holiday
Police have cordoned off the A8045 near the village of Garreg, where the car was found
A fire engine by the scene of the crash earlier today
Lisa Corfield, whose daughter Maddi is 17-year-old Wilf’s girlfriend, told : ‘They are not experienced campers. They have never been there before. [They] were just going for the night so have a tent and sleeping bags but only the basics.’
Crystal Owen, mother of Harvey, a 17-year-old sixth-former at Shrewsbury College, said she was unaware her son had gone camping and thought he was staying at a friend’s grandfather’s house for the night.
She said: ‘If I’d have known (where he was going) I wouldn’t have let him due to the winter weather conditions.
‘They are all sensitive, intelligent lads and we are just hoping they parked up, got lost and are OK.’
A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We were called on Tuesday at approximately 10.08am to reports of an incident near the A4085 between Nantmor and Tan-Lan.
‘We sent an operations manager, two emergency ambulances and two Cymru high acuity response units to the scene where we were supported by the emergency medical retrieval and transfer service in two Wales Air Ambulance charity helicopters.’
North Wales Police released an update about the car the boys were in on Tuesday afternoon
The lack of contact was said to be out of character and friends said their families are ‘worried sick’. Pictured: Family members post on Facebook
Helicopters were seen circling the Tremadog area, near Cnicht mountain.
A coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon searched the area around the Glaslyn Nature Reserve at 4.30am.
It has emerged that the four had only a tent and sleeping bags.
Harvey’s mother had reposted the appeal post shared by North Wales Police on Facebook and wrote: ‘I am frantic with worry, one of these boys is my son Harvey, please please please share and tag anyone in Wales or get in touch with any information you may have.’
Another family member, Mel Hirst, had said they were ‘desperate for any news’ and pleaded users to keep sharing the post.