Cardiff car crash: Hundreds attend St Mellons vigil

Hundreds of people have attended a vigil for five people involved in a crash at the weekend.

Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21 and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died in the collision in Cardiff and Shane Loughlin, 32, and Sophie Russon, 20, remain in hospital in a critical condition.

All five had been on a night out in Newport when the car is believed to have veered off the A48 into trees.

Friends and family gathered at the scene in St Mellons on Tuesday.

Part of the road was closed to allow the crowds to congregate.

Luke Thole, a close friend of Mr Jeanne, was one of the organisers of the vigil.

He said he was "lost for words" over the loss of a his friend who was "like a brother".

He added: "I'm glad of the turnout, a lot of people here which obviously Rafel would love.

"It's very big for Cardiff and Newport to be honest with you, they're well known people. And like I said, Rafel loves all this type of stuff so he'd be happy up there seeing all what's gone on for him."

He said that he wished friends and family had known the location of the car much sooner. The crash is believed to have taken place in the early hours of Saturday, with the car found just after midnight on Monday morning.

"[We] could've potentially saved him maybe, because they were there for 48 hours. To be honest, I am lost for words and it's hit a lot of people," he said.

The five were last seen on Friday night, but Gwent Police did not put out a public appeal until 23:00 GMT on Sunday, about one hour before the car was located.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will investigate police actions following missing person reports after the crash, it has confirmed.

Tamzin Samuels, 20, a friend of the women who helped in the search effort, said: "I do think the police could have done a lot more in putting the helicopters out earlier.

"They only posted the appeal an hour before the girls were found."

At the vigil, a minute's silence was held, while people stood holding hands in tears and hugging each other.

Cheers and calls of "fly high" could be heard as people released balloons, set off fireworks as well as pink and blue flares.

A relative of Mr Jeanne who did not want to be named told BBC Wales the family were "still in shock" by his death, but were heartened by the turnout of people.

"It goes to show how much he was loved by so many different people," they said.

The women, from Newport, had gone to The Muffler club in the Maesglas area of the city late on Friday.

They then travelled 36 miles (58km) to Trecco Bay, a caravan park in the seaside resort of Porthcawl, Bridgend county, with the two men, both from Cardiff.

A Snapchat photo shared by Ms Ross' sister showed her and Mr Jeanne together on the night they went missing.

The group was last seen in Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, in the early hours of Saturday, but it is not yet clear when the crash happened.

South Wales Police and Gwent Police believe only one car was involved in the crash and confirmed the collision occurred during the early hours of Saturday.

The exact time will be confirmed by an investigation.

However, Ms Russon's mum Anna Certowicz said police "didn't seem to think it was worth investigating" at the start.

She criticised the police response, saying they could have been found sooner if officers had started investigating straight away.

Winston Roddick, former police and crime commissioner for north Wales, said the police's response to worried parents' calls about their missing children was "not quite right".

He said the victims' silence should have set off alarm bells sooner as young people today use their mobile phones continually.

"Maybe there should be questions asked and some effective inquiry made to see whether any one or more of them could be traced. If not, then the question mark becomes bigger," he said.

Mr Roddick said although this was an "unusual case", it was not unusual for the two forces to be referred to the IOPC and added it was far too early to jump to conclusions.

The forces said they could not comment while an investigation was pending.

They confirmed a first missing person report was made to Gwent Police at 19:34 GMT on Saturday, with further missing person reports made at 19:43 and 21:32.

A further missing person report was made to South Wales Police at 17:37 on Sunday.

The police helicopter was requested at 23:50 on Sunday to search an area of Cardiff, after which the Volkswagen was found, they said.

Matthew Pace, 45, and his son Lewis, 26, told Sky News that they found the car in a wooded area along the A48 just after midnight on Monday morning.

Matthew Pace said a police officer arrived soon after and another officer subsequently got the helicopter to search the area. The force then confirmed the vehicle had been found, he said.