Family imagesJevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Fitchett and Hugo Morris were on a camping trip when they were killed in the crash in November 2023Four teenage boys drowned in an overturned car when it crashed on a camping trip in north Wales, an inquest has heard.
Hugo Morris, 18, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Jevon Hirst, 16, all from Shrewsbury, died when their car left a rural road in Gwynedd last November.
It flipped on to its roof in a flooded ditch, leaving the four A-level students trapped.
Crash investigators told the hearing in Caernarfon that the car driven by Hugo had entered a bend 'in excess" of the speed needed to get around safely.
The teenagers had been visiting Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, when they set off from Harlech on19 November to spend the night camping.
But the Ford Fiesta being driven by Hugo left the A4085 road near the villages of Garreg and Llanfrothen.
The crashed car could not be seen from the road and led to a massive two day search to find the boys.
The inquest was told that a passing refuse recycling truck spotted the upturned car while on its round on the Tuesday morning.
All four students were found dead in the car.
The inquest was told that post-mortem examinations revealed none of them had any internal or external injuries, and had died as a result of drowning.
Giving evidence to the hearing, crash investigators for North Wales Police said there were "no catastrophic mechanical failures" with the car.
However, both rear tyres were only half the required inflated pressure for carrying four people.
Crash investigator Ian Thompson said in his view, Hugo had driven into a bend on the road too fast, which led to the vehicle leaving the road.
He said he calculated the maximum theoretical speed around the bend was 38mph.
But he added: "Having driven the bend myself the fastest speed I felt comfortable negotiating the bend was 26mph."
He said the Ford Fiesta had entered that bend at a speed that was in excess of the limit to negotiate it, even though that may well have been below the road's 60mph limit.
Mr Thompson said the actions of Hugo Morris needed to be considered in the accident.
While it had been raining heavily, with leaf cover on the road, the investigator said he did not consider weather conditions played a role in the collision.
But he said in his view, the crash "was avoidable".