POLICE searching for four teenage boys who vanished on a camping trip have sadly found their bodies in a partially submerged car.
Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson, and Hugo Morris were last seen getting into a silver Ford Fiesta on Sunday morning.
North Wales Police revealed they had located the car partially submerged in water and on its roof while searching in the Porthmadog area.
Sadly, it has now been confirmed that four bodies have been found inside the vehicle, with all the families informed.
Supt Owain Llewelyn said: “At present, this appears to have been a tragic accident, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the four young men at this very difficult time.
“This has been an extensive search involving a number of different agencies and volunteers, and this is sadly not the outcome that any of us would have wanted.
“We would ask that the family be afforded the appropriate privacy and respect.”
North Wales Police said the car appeared to have “left the road” with investigations surrounding the tragedy ongoing.
It is understood the four friends, who travelled from the Welsh coastal areas of Harlech and Porthmadog, were heading to Eryri National Park in Snowdonia.
The group, aged between 16 and 17, were due to return on Monday morning but none of them have made any contact with relatives and their phones are all switched off.
The teens were not experienced campers and only had basic equipment including a tent and sleeping bags with them.
Crystal Owen, Harvey’s mum, said earlier she did not know they were going on a camping trip and thought they were going to stay at friend’s grandfather’s house.
“I am frantically worried, we haven’t slept a wink, we are desperate to chase any lead we can,” she told the BBC.
“If I’d have known where he was going, I wouldn’t have let him due to the winter weather conditions.
“They are all sensitive, intelligent lads and we are just hoping they parked up, got lost and are OK.”
Cops and rescue teams searched a huge area of land made more difficult by the treacherous mountainous landscape around Snowdonia.
Mountain rescuers told how they searched car parks in a bid to find the silver motor that the boys are believed to have travelled in.
Chris Lloyd, chairman of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team, said teams had spent Sunday looking for the vehicle after police asked for support in the search.
The boys, from Shrewsbury, were thought to have been travelling in the Harlech and Porthmadog areas of Gwynedd near Snowdonia, now known as Eryri.
But Coastguard helicopters were seen searching the Glaslyn Nature Reserve almost 50 miles away.
Shrewsbury Colleges Group – where all four boys were studying – have released a heartfelt message for the boys after they went missing.
A spokesman said: “The college’s immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the teenagers missing in North Wales.
“We can confirm that all four of the teenagers are students at Shrewsbury Colleges Group and are studying A-levels with the college.
“This is a very worrying time, and we all want them to be found safe and well.”
