Yahoo News What we know about Wales bus crash that has killed three teenagers
Jesse Owen and Morgan Smith, both 18, along with Callum Griffiths, 19, were declared dead at the scene of the collision on Ely Valley Road in the village of Coedely, south Wales.
The three teenagers who died in a crash involving a car and a bus in a Welsh village have been named by police.
Callum Griffiths, 19, from Porth, died along with 18-year-olds Jesse Owen and Morgan Smith, both from Tonypandy. The three were declared dead at the scene of the collision on Ely Valley Road in the village of Coedely. Two other men, aged 18 and 19, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries following the crash on Monday evening.
Yahoo News UK examines what we know so far:
What we know
Emergency services were called to the scene of the crash, which involved a bus and an Audi A1 car, on Monday evening in Coedley, 10 miles west of Cardiff.
Reports say all five of the teenagers - who had played together in the same rugby team from the age of 10 - were in the Audi after a night out with old school friends. At around 7pm while travelling home from Coedley to Tonypandy the car collided head-on with the bus on the wet 20mph road.
Morgan was named on social media with tributes saying he was a keen boxer and had previously won a Welsh youth title. His father, Daniel Chalfont, posted on Facebook: "My baby boy Morgan Smith. Literally the most perfect son you could ever wish for. Miss you so much already. Don’t know how I’ll live life without you. Literally broken."
His mother Laura said: "Just six hours ago we said our usual love you. This hurts so much."
Another two men, aged 18 and 19, were taken to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, with life-threatening injuries, while two other people were also treated for minor injuries.
Rhondda Cynon Taf council’s deputy mayor Councillor Dan Owen-Jones was at the scene soon after the crash after a resident called him. He said the incident has cast a “dark cloud over the community” and sent those affected his “deepest sympathies”.
He said a community centre was later opened as a “safe haven and warm place for distressed family and friends” arriving at the scene. “I couldn’t imagine their feelings,” he said. “What I’ve seen and witnessed, I never ever want to witness again.
What we don't know
The two men who have life-threatening injuries have not been named and information about their condition in hospital is not known. It has not been established exactly what happened to cause the head-on collision involving the car and the bus.
Anyone who witnessed the collision or the manner in which either vehicle was being driven prior to the collision is asked to contact South Wales Police. Anyone with any dashcam or mobile phone footage or who witnessed the collision is asked to contact police quoting reference 2300420639.
