Cardiff crash – latest: Family and friends criticise police over search for victims as tributes pour in

Thomas Kingsley,Emily Atkinson,Andy Gregory and Maroosha Muzaffar

Tue, 7 March 2023 at 5:47 am GMT

A friend of the victims has claimed it was members of the public who found them and not the police, after the mother of one of the women who died in the crash alleged that law enforcement officials told her to “stop ringing” the station for updates.

Tamzin Samuels, 20, 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. We found them before the police found them – we rang the police.”

The three people found dead and two others seriously injured in a car accident in Cardiff are reported to have lain in the wreckage for up to 46 hours before they were discovered.

The group vanished at around 2am on Saturday, and police sources told the Daily Telegraph that a missing person report was first filed with Gwent Police some 19 hours later.

Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21 and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died after the Volkswagen Tiguan came off the A48(M) and crashed into trees. Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, survived but remain in a critical condition, according to police.

Key Points

• Five lay undiscovered in crash ‘for up to 46 hours’
• Mother of missing woman claims police told her to ‘stop ringing’ station for updates
• A48 in south Wales closed in both directions as police cordon crash area
• Gwent Police force referred itself to police watchdog over handling of case
• Three found dead in search after a night out

Family criticise police search as tributes pour in for three killed in Cardiff crash

03:38 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A mother who spent hours searching for her missing daughter who was involved in a deadly car crash in Cardiff has criticised police after allegedly being told to “stop calling for updates”.

Concerns were raised after three women and two men went missing at the weekend, with family and friends of the group making repeated appeals to locate them.

The women, Sophie Russon, Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, were seen travelling in a Volkswagen Tiguan with two men, Rafel Jeanne and Shane Loughlin. They were last seen at around 2am in Cardiff.

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Family criticise police search as tributes pour in for three killed in Cardiff crash