Teenagers' car 'crashed in ditch and was found by lorry passenger'

The car carrying four teenagers who died in a crash in north Wales left a narrow, winding road on a leaf-covered bend and became stuck upside down in a ditch that had just become swollen with water, according to a local farmer.

- Steven Morris, Jessica Murray

Despite a desperate search involving a police helicopter, the vehicle was only spotted by a passenger in a recycling lorry almost 48 hours after the four were last seen, said the farmer who works on the land where the incident happened.

Police are investigating how the car carrying Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett and Hugo Morris, all college students from Shrewsbury between the ages of 16 and 18, ended up in the ditch in Snowdonia (Eryri).

Supt Owain Llewellyn, of North Wales police, said: "We can confirm that colleagues from the north-west underwater search team are now assisting with the search of the area where the car was found."

Tributes were paid to the teenagers. Posting on Facebook yesterday morning, Harvey's mother, Crystal Owen, said: "I feel like I'm in a nightmare I wish I could wake up from but I'm not. I just wanted to say I do appreciate people's kindness but no amount of messages is going to help me overcome this. Nothing will make this nightmare go away."

In their home town, college friends and residents laid flowers and lit candles at Shrewsbury Abbey. "The whole town has been affected by this. Their loss will be felt deeply by a very many people in Shrewsbury," said Steve Swindon, a parish administrator at the abbey.

"If anybody had lost faith in the young generation, it will be restored on a day like today because they were all very dignified, paying their respects, and it's been heartwarming to watch that."

One message written in chalk on the front steps of the college where the boys studied said: "This doesn't feel real. We loved you so much. Rest easy lads."

Rhys Williams, who lives 25 metres from the crash site and farms the land where the crash happened, told the Guardian he was woken early on Tuesday morning by a helicopter hovering overhead, its search beam on. "They wouldn't have seen anything - no chance."