Cause of death of four teens found in car after vanishing on camping trip revealed
Four teenagers who died after their car crashed in the Snowdonia area died from drowning, it has been revealed.
The inquests into the deaths of Jevon Hirst, 16, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Hugo Morris, 18, opened today in Caernarfon by Kate Robertson, senior coroner for North West Wales.
The four teens were reported missing on November 19 after they didn’t return home from an overnight camping trip.
They were found dead in a silver Ford Fiesta which had overturned and was partially submerged in water on November 21 after a frantic search effort.
A police investigation into the crash and their deaths is still ongoing, and a full inquest won’t take place until the investigation is complete.
However, the opening of the inquest heard the provisional cause of death given for all four boys was drowning.
All four boys were formally identified to police by family members.
Kate Robertson, senior coroner for north west Wales, said: ‘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.’
None of the teenager’s families attended the brief, four-minute hearing, and a date for the full inquest into their deaths was not set.
Tributes have been paid to the Shrewsbury College students, including from Wilf’s girlfriend Maddi Corfield who said: ‘I love you so much, I’m going to miss you forever.
‘The sweetest and most loving boy I’ve ever known. I hope you know how much I love you, gorgeous.’
Crystal Owen, mum to Harvey, said she was ‘living in a nightmare’ after finding out her son had been killed in the crash.
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