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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Alahna Kindred

All we know about Cardiff car crash - from mystery passenger to delay in finding wreckage

Police continue to investigate the circumstances of a tragic crash that killed three and left two in serious condition in the hospital.

All five were in a Volkswagen Tiguan that came off the A48(M) in Cardiff and crashed into trees in the St Mellons area of the city in the early hours of last Saturday.

Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died in the accident while Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, survived but remain in critical condition.

The group had been to The Muffler social club in Newport on Friday night and then travelled just under 40 miles to the Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl.

A caravan at the holiday park where the group are understood to have stayed for some time before the accident was cordoned off this week.

Two people remain seriously injured in hospital (PA)

They left a short time later and were last seen at about 2am in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff having dropped off a sixth member of their group. The sixth person is said to be fully cooperating.

However, it remains unclear what happened leading up to the crash.

"A great deal of public distress following the crash," a member of the Welsh Senedd said.

After South Wales Police said it was still trying to "piece together" what happened, here's everything we know so far.

Police took 46 hours to find the car wreckage

The scene in the St Mellons area of Cardiff where three people who disappeared on a night out have died (PA)

Friends and family desperately searched for the group over the weekend after reporting their disappearance to the police.

And 46 hours after they were last heard from, the car they had been travelling in was found.

The last confirmed sighting of the group was at 2am on March 4 in Pentwyn.

The first missing persons ' report that came in was made to Gwent Police at 7.34pm on March 4.

By 11.50pm on Sunday, March 5, a police helicopter was started to search an area of Cardiff which resulted in a vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.

Police then saw the car at 12.02am on Monday, March 6.

Crash survivor lay semi-conscious 'calling for help' for 2 days

Sophie Russon, 20, is also in a critical condition (WALES NEWS SERVICE)

Sophie Russon's mum has said how her daughter remained in the car for nearly two days before she was found.

The bank worker suffered a fractured skull and bleed to the brain, as well as breaking her neck and spine, mum Anna Cerowicz said.

Anna believes the impact of the crash left Sophie with burns from her seatbelt and that she was left suspended inside the car, after it came to rest at a steep angle pointing downwards.

Anna, 41, from Newport, said her daughter would have been "petrified" laying there for nearly two days "calling for help" with such horrendous injuries.

“She was in the car with bodies all around her, that’s a lot for anybody.

“She was in a small space, cold, scared stiff and not able to reach her mobile phone.”

Officers 'told survivor's mum to stop calling'

A vigil and tributes with fireworks at the scene (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)

Sophie's mum made a total of 10 calls to Gwent Police on the Saturday, but was apparently told that her daughter was "probably out partying".

Ms Certowicz told the Daily Mail: "They didn't seem to care. I had to drive to Cardiff to knock on doors myself because they were doing sod all.

"They just didn't seem to think it was worth investigating. It was so frustrating.

"I think they assumed that Sophie was hungover somewhere, but she's a sensible girl who works in a bank and hasn't taken a day off for three years... She wouldn't just vanish like this unless something was wrong."

Four separate missing person reports were filed to the police

Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died in the collision (Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died in the collision)

On March 7, Gwent Police released a full timeline of events into what happened leading up to when they found the car.

They said the first missing person report was made to Gwent Police at 7.34pm on March 5.

Two further missing person reports were made to Gwent Police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm on the same day.

And the fourth missing person report was made to South Wales Police at 5.37pm on March 5.

Police watchdog investigating two forces over their response

Shane Loughlin, 32, remains in a critical condition (Media Wales)

This week, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was "urgently carrying out an assessment" of the referrals which were made by Gwent Police and South Wales Police on Tuesday.

In a further update, the watchdog said it will be investigating the forces' response to the missing person reports.

David Ford, IOPC director, said: "After careful assessment of referrals from Gwent Police and South Wales Police, we have decided to independently investigate how police responded to the missing person reports.

"We will be examining what information police had, the grading given to any risk assessments and the steps taken by police to locate the missing people prior to the Volkswagen Tiguan being found just after midnight on Monday.

"We will also consider what communication took place between the two forces and whether police action was appropriate and followed relevant policy and procedures."

'The fifth passenger was dropped off shortly before the crash

Joel Lia was the sixth person in the car who got out shortly before the crash (WALES NEWS SERVICE)

Joel Lia, 27, got out of the Volkswagen Tiguan before it veered off the road in the St Mellons area of Cardiff in the early hours of last Saturday.

Speaking about Joel, a source told The Sun: "He has been cooperating fully with the officers in the case and is understandably very upset by the events of that night."

As part of a tribute to Rafel on Facebook, a friend shared a video of him and Joel getting out of the white Tiguan last Thursday (March 3) - the day before the crash.

Joel had previously served a “lengthy” jail term for trafficking crack cocaine, reports the South Wales Argus.

Police previously confirmed to the Mirror it was investigating an alleged altercation at the caravan park at the time the group visited, of which the details have not been made clear.

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