Found Deceased 4 young males, Jevon Hurst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett, Hugo Morris, traveling in a silver Ford Fiesta,Harlech/Porthmadog,North Wales,19 Nov 2023

[MollyHarps]

North Wales: Four missing teens drowned after crash, inquest hears

The bodies of Hugo Morris, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett and Jevon Hirst were found in a crashed car.

www.bbc.co.uk

An inquest into the deaths of four teenagers killed in a car crash has heard that all four of them drowned.
Wilf Fitchett, Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen and Hugo Morris, from the Shrewsbury area, were found in an overturned, partially submerged car in Gwynedd, north Wales.
The boys - one aged 16, two aged 17 and one aged 18 - were discovered on Tuesday, 21 November.
A search was launched after they failed to return home from a camping trip.
The opening of an inquest at Caernarfon, Gwynedd, heard post mortem examinations on all four teenagers showed the provisional cause of death to be drowning in all four cases.

Poor kids.

Oh my goodness my heart breaks for their poor families.

This is essentially one of the worst outcomes imaginable I really done know how the families even begin to come to terms with this - I was hoping they’d have died from catastrophic injuries caused on impact - at least then the families would’ve known they probably had no idea and it was over fast.

I can’t begin to imagine the likely panic from the four boys in the car - I just hope they were knocked unconscious on impact and that they weren’t fighting for their lives trying to escape the car.

The car was found partially submerged in water - I wonder if water levels receded since the Sunday and prior to them receding the car was fully submerged that would explain why nobody spotted the car until Tuesday morning. (Sunday was torrential rain - the Monday/Tuesday were drier).

My thoughts and prayers are with the four families.
RIP boys.

 

[Alyce]

Oh my goodness my heart breaks for their poor families.

This is essentially one of the worst outcomes imaginable I really done know how the families even begin to come to terms with this - I was hoping they’d have died from catastrophic injuries caused on impact - at least then the families would’ve known they probably had no idea and it was over fast.

I can’t begin to imagine the likely panic from the four boys in the car - I just hope they were knocked unconscious on impact and that they weren’t fighting for their lives trying to escape the car.

The car was found partially submerged in water - I wonder if water levels receded since the Sunday and prior to them receding the car was fully submerged that would explain why nobody spotted the car until Tuesday morning. (Sunday was torrential rain - the Monday/Tuesday were drier).

My thoughts and prayers are with the four families.
RIP boys.

Agree. This is unbearably sad. I also hope they knew nothing - also that the families were pre warned of the likely inquest result.

 

[Lucy6226]

This is just awful to hear and I can only imagine how the families must feel knowing this. I think we were all hoping they had died on impact, it's just horrific

 

[WiseOwl]

From their local Shrewsbury news:

Shrewsbury teenagers drowned in car crash during North Wales camping trip, inquest hears

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

www.shropshirestar.com

Four teenagers drowned after the vehicle they were travelling in left a road in North Wales, a coroner has said. 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 of their deaths was drowning.

On Wednesday, coroner Ms Robertson said the students were all formally identified to police by family members.

A police investigation remains ongoing, she said. Ms Robertson concluded: “I offer the families my sincerest condolences.

 

[x44]

I'd suspect its non discovery until Tuesday had a number of factors
1. water level receding in the ditch/Water course
2. Car well below line of sight from road view as seen by a car
3. A driver's concentration approaching the RH bend would be toward the right not looking down to the left...so would never be looking in the direction where the car was.
4. The discovery was made by a HGV (bin lorry) so much higher viewpoint and also not by the driver but by the passenger - who by Tuesday would have been specifically looking for anything "odd" en-route.
5. Although they went missing on Sunday the full media attention on everyone looking for them did not really start until Monday midday.
6. It looks like there were no fences/scrub/bushes to hinder their sad progress down the slope tipping over as they did, so again no visible signs of something having gone off the road at that point.
7. Quiet Welsh roads out of holiday season with some grim weather means far fewer vehicles passing the location.

I actually though that given the lack of much certainly as to where they were, and given the position of the car where it was, it was found remarkably quickly

 

[Pinkestpanther]

Utterly heartbreaking

 

[turbo1973]

I've just read that the first of the Funeral Services takes place tomorrow, 6th December for Jev (Jevon) who was the youngest of the friends. I guess once the funerals have been attended it will bring some closure to the local community, and the world will move on, at least until some point in the future when the findings of the inquest are continued by the media.

The same cannot be said for the families of the lads who must be totally and utterly broken. Two weeks ago I had never heard of their names, now I find myself remembering them and thinking of their families on a daily basis. I think its the circumstances of the accident. Four young lads, setting out on a weekend adventure, a rite of passage into adulthood. How can anything so innocent and "ladish" turn into such a devastating tragedy?. Fate can be so unfathomably cruel.

I can’t begin to imagine the likely panic from the four boys in the car - I just hope they were knocked unconscious on impact and that they weren’t fighting for their lives trying to escape the car.

Its this possibility which really jars my emotions. I've used that road several times whilst on holiday, and its impossible to know or see from car level on the road what is lying below the edge (which from memory has no crash barrier or reflective warning markers) and I was shocked when I saw the press photos of what is over the other side and the potential danger. According to the local farmer who lives just around the corner from the accident scene, at the bottom of the bank is a stream which becomes an irrigation ditch. For most of the year it only contains a few inches of water, but can swell to up to 6 feet during times of flooding which was allegedly the level it was at after 2 days of heavy rain prior to the accident.

From what i've read from comments made locally, it looks like the car left the road, rolled down the bank and may have become wedged upside down in the ditch. The thought which makes me feel physically sick, is the fact that the sides of the ditch would have prevented any of the doors from opening or escape from the side windows. Like you, I hope that they were unconscious directly after the accident occurred as the possible alternative scenario's of the car being wedged do not bear thinking about.

I also hope that the outcome of the inquest once it is released doesn't find any blame on the driver either. There has already been lots of unfair, thoughtless speculation in social media posts in full view of the grieving families surrounding 'young drivers' and Speeding. The parents of whomever was driving really don't need that speculation being put in front of them in addition to what they are already going through. I noticed a slippery road warning triangle appear at the location in the media photos on the day after the accident, so I guess there is a possibility that the Environment and weather conditions on a winding rural road may have equally played a part in the cause. Such a finding published officially would only bring a crumb of comfort, but one i'm sure which would be welcomed.

 

[dms]

Here are the pictures of ditches near the craft site from the DM link. I notice they often repurpose articles with later updates and photos, so I thought I’d preserve them here for anyone reading this later.

This was thoughtful. I think you're right about the DM.

 

[Skigh]

My heart goes out to their families,it must have been so hard for them to get through Christmas.

 

[turbo1973]

I had to drive to Beddgelert to meet up with friends over Xmas and drove the road where the accident occurred. I've driven this road many times, but even though I don't know those involved, this time it was very surreal and brought a lump to my throat to see the place where they left the road. The crowdfunding page set up in their memory has also just topped £30k, which shows how well liked these lads were in their local community, and the national shock and outpouring of grief for their loss.

I've checked the SD card in the dashcam, and I still have footage of the journey a few days ago from which i've produced these still images for those who don't know the road or the area. It seems that a couple of tall warning chevron signs may recently have been placed on the corner to warn the traffic approaching (as its footings look recently dug), and a row of cones mark the area where the irrigation ditch is directly below. As you can see there is probably the width of a traffic cone base between the edge of the road surface and something of a precipice dropping directly down into the ditch as shown on the DM photos. In my own opinion its certainly a section which is due a few feet of crash barrier, hopefully one will eventually replace the row of cones.

Its also obvious that anything directly below in the ditch wouldn't be seen from a driving /passenger seat position of a normal car.

Its made worse by the fact that they lost the road at the only open section on that corner, a few feet either side and they would have been in hedges and trees, and the outcome may have been different .