The sister of one of the three people who died in a car crash in Wales has said it would have been a “differrent outcome” if police had found the car sooner.
Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died after police believe their car came off the A48 in Cardiff and stopped in a cluster of trees in the early hours of Saturday.
Two others who were in the car, Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, are in hospital with serious injuries.
The group had reportedly visited a social club in Maesglas, Newport on Friday night and then travelled 40 miles to the Trecco Bay area of Porthcawl before they were last seen in Pentwyn, Cardiff, around 2am on Saturday.
They were reported missing on Saturday evening and a police search uncovered the crashed vehicle just after midnight on Monday.
The sister of Rafel, Ffion Actie, told Sky News she was disappointed police didn’t act sooner.
“I heard the girls’ mums had contacted [police] but it had taken several hours [to respond],” she said.
“I feel they should have acted straight away.”
She added that if police had discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan sooner, “it would have been a different outcome”.
Ms Actie is not the first family member to criticise the police response.
Sophie’s mother, Anna Certowicz, told the Daily Mail that she drove to Cardiff herself to “knock on doors” after believing the police weren’t taking the missing persons’ case seriously.
She said her daughter was lying in the car for two days next to her dead friends, “wondering if help would ever arrive”.
“She must have thought she was going to die,” Ms Certowicz said.
A vigil was held at the crash site on Tuesday evening where around 1,000 people gathered, lighting candles and flares while others rode mopeds, motorbikes and quad bikes around the roundabout.
A firework display lit up the sky above St Mellons for around 30 minutes while family and friends looked on.
Rachel O’Neill, 37, from Rumney, told PA: “It’s been heartbreaking to think that they were there for so long, for 46 hours, and that they were found by people and not even the police.
“It’s absolutely disgusting, and you just don’t know. There could have been some lives saved if they had moved faster.”
The first call reporting the victims as missing was made to police at 7.34pm on Saturday, while further reports were made up until 5.37pm on Sunday.
Hundreds of people took part in searches but Gwent Police did not issue a public appeal for help until 11pm on Sunday.
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.”
In a joint statement, Gwent Police and South Wales Police said a helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff at 11.50pm on Sunday.
The forces added that Gwent Police officers on the ground had sight of the car at 12.02am on Monday and South Wales Police created a log at 12.15am.
Ms Smith’s death comes eight years after her sister Xana Doyle, 19, was killed in a car crash. The driver, who was twice the drink-drive limit, was prosecuted and Ms Smith took part in a Sky TV documentary about the incident and campaigned for tougher sentences.
In a statement, Ms Smith’s family asked for their privacy to be respected.
They added: “We want to allow Gwent Police and South Wales Police the time and space to investigate the matter in a thorough and professional way and to enable the Independent Office for Police Conduct thereafter to come to their own conclusions.”
Gwent Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hoborough and South Wales Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies said their thoughts are with the victims’ families.
