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People Who Just Disappear (Go Missing)

Heard about this on the BBC news -

North Wales Police: Four missing teens last seen on Sunday

A police search has been launched for four teenagers who have been missing since Sunday morning.

Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris, believed to be from Shrewsbury, are thought to have been travelling in the Harlech and Porthmadog areas of Gwynedd.

It is believed they had gone camping in the Snowdonia area.

They were last seen in a silver Ford Fiesta, registration HY14 GVO, police said.

North Wales Police has appealed for any sightings to be reported.
etc
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Let's hope they've just gone off the radar for a couple of days. Maybe parked up, lozzocking in their tent smoking weed as young men are apt to.
However, the higher roads there have some nasty bends and the occasional steep drop beside them. If they've had a crash off one they might be hard to find.

(I used to drive around that area with my children, camping and exploring, and some stretches of road could be interesting especially for the first time. Spectacular views throughout.
We did once return with a roughly drystone wall-height set of scrapes along the side of a van though.)

I'm thinking of the awful crash in May near Cardiff, where the car was not found for two days despite some of its occupants being reported missing.

Cardiff car crash: police confirm four separate missing persons reports made

Two police forces heavily criticised for their response to a crash that killed three young people and left two seriously injured have confirmed more than 46 hours passed between the group’s last sighting and their wrecked car being found and that four separate missing persons reports were made to them.

Gwent and South Wales police also confirmed that the last sighting of the car was only about 2.5 miles from where it was found, which will raise more questions over why it took so long for the five to be discovered.
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Fingers crossed they come home safe.
 
Last edited:
Posted at 16:3216:32

Deaths appear to be tragic accident, police say​

North Wales Police says the incident "appears to have been a tragic accident" at the moment, in its update saying four bodies have been found in a car that appears to have left the road.
Supt Owain Llewelyn says the force's "thoughts are with the family and friends of the four young men at this very difficult time".
He says there has been "extensive search" by several different emergency response agencies and volunteers, adding that "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," Llewelyn says.
Investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances of their deaths, he adds.
 
Agh.

Happened to a friend of mine...But her son was hanging round with a group of wrong uns.
 
And there, but for the grace of God, go I.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-wales-67484258

When I was a teen me and my mates would drive up drunkenly from Essex to North Wales, do what is now called wild camping, and experiment with drugs. This was before my mate Howard killed himself with heroin and put me off the whole scene. I can remember one night we stopped half way up the A5 and bought a cheap bottle of brandy - well, relabelled meths - and we were all, including the driver, smashed.

I've no right to still be here, but at least given half a chance in a conversation now I'm older and wiser I can sometimes give some effective advice, precisely because I've been there.

I feel so much for these poor youngsters and their families. Our modern inverted world where the whims of the young are allowed to override the hard won experience of such of us oldies that have survived is sad. There needs to be a balance, mind, not going back to Victorian vicious patriarchy.

I know the road on which the accident apparently occurred very well - it's a short cut between where I live and the main roads south. There are one or two twisty sections but mostly its not that bad.
 
Cochise said:
And there, but for the grace of God, go I.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-wales-67484258

When I was a teen me and my mates would drive up drunkenly from Essex to North Wales, do what is now called wild camping, and experiment with drugs. This was before my mate Howard killed himself with heroin and put me off the whole scene. I can remember one night we stopped half way up the A5 and bought a cheap bottle of brandy - well, relabelled meths - and we were all, including the driver, smashed.

I've no right to still be here, but at least given half a chance in a conversation now I'm older and wiser I can sometimes give some effective advice, precisely because I've been there.

I feel so much for these poor youngsters and their families. Our modern inverted world where the whims of the young are allowed to override the hard won experience of such of us oldies that have survived is sad. There needs to be a balance, mind, not going back to Victorian vicious patriarchy.

I know the road on which the accident apparently occurred very well - it's a short cut between where I live and the main roads south. There are one or two twisty sections but mostly its not that bad.
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Same with me Cochise .. we do stupid stuff when we're younger. I remember reading in the papers about some lads who were parked up in a car in Staffordshire in the early 90's and they were getting high by toking on a can of lighter gas. Then one of them decided to light a cigarette so it was a fireball inside their car. I can't remember if any of them died. Cheerful conversation huh?. I feel bad for these boy's parents.
 
It seems an increasingly common phenomenon for a bunch of youths in a car to kill themselves in a one vehicle accident. There were moves to restrict young drivers to not carrying any passengers which seems like a good idea. One young driver was jailed recently for killing his passenger for speeding in snowy conditions and crashing, merely showing off. Of course when I were a lad you couldn't fly about (as much as you tried) compared to the pocket rockets that even modest cars comprise today.
 
PeteS said:
It seems an increasingly common phenomenon for a bunch of youths in a car to kill themselves in a one vehicle accident. There were moves to restrict young drivers to not carrying any passengers which seems like a good idea. One young driver was jailed recently for killing his passenger for speeding in snowy conditions and crashing, merely showing off. Of course when I were a lad you couldn't fly about (as much as you tried) compared to the pocket rockets that even modest cars comprise today.
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It's not as simple as that when there is a bunch of adolescents together. As I mentioned above, I've been there when I was a youth. You all egg each other on. It's almost certainly not the case that the others in the car are oblivious to the state of the driver. And no teen wants to look a wimp.

I have done exactly what these lads have done when I was the same age. We sneaked off to Snowdonia because we could. And, having got there, we could do our own stuff. The inadequate camping equipment, tick. Driving around to find somewhere totally out the way, tick. four of us in a tiny car (in our case a Hillman Imp) tick.

I'm so sorry for these lads and their families. I'm not sure how on that road they could have ended up in a river, but who knows what was in their minds, anything from normal teenage daring to , as we did , experimenting with stuff. I do hope the police behave with discretion and don't place any extra burden on the lad driving at the time or on whatever the lads might have been on. .
 
PeteS said:
It seems an increasingly common phenomenon for a bunch of youths in a car to kill themselves in a one vehicle accident. There were moves to restrict young drivers to not carrying any passengers which seems like a good idea. One young driver was jailed recently for killing his passenger for speeding in snowy conditions and crashing, merely showing off. Of course when I were a lad you couldn't fly about (as much as you tried) compared to the pocket rockets that even modest cars comprise today.
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When I was around these youths' ages in the '70s young blokes were speeding around on motorbikes because they couldn't afford cars. If it went wrong they mainly wiped out just themselves and perhaps whoever was on the back.
 
Cochise said:
I have done exactly what these lads have done when I was the same age. We sneaked off to Snowdonia because we could. And, having got there, we could do our own stuff. The inadequate camping equipment, tick. Driving around to find somewhere totally out the way, tick. four of us in a tiny car (in our case a Hillman Imp) tick.
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Techy used to do this too. He'd be away in Wales or Derbyshire in the '80s with his mates and his parents had no idea where he was. No mobile phones, certainly no finding a call box to ring home.

He mentioned this yesterday, saying 'My mother wouldn't have reported ME missing!'
 
escargot said:
Techy used to do this too. He'd be away in Wales or Derbyshire in the '80s with his mates and his parents had no idea where he was. No mobile phones, certainly no finding a call box to ring home.

He mentioned this yesterday, saying 'My mother wouldn't have reported ME missing!'
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I went to Australia once without telling my Mother.
Well, I sent an air mail letter eventually.
 
escargot said:
I just upped and shoved off the once and didn't go back.
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insidetardis2.gif
 
Techy pointed out yesterday that the missing lads could have been tracked via their mobile phones. This would work if the area had a good enough signal which it seems is not the case.

Reminds me of the self-employed builder who was apt to go off on jobs alone, whose family didn't take much notice when he was missing one December years ago.
He was expected back for the holiday but didn't appear, and was found dead from exposure at New Year by the owners of the remote cottage he was renovating.

Poor bloke'd fallen from the roof and broken some limbs. His phone was present but the signal in the area, a deep valley, was too feeble.

So nobody knew where he was and he couldn't tell anyone. Awful.
 
There's great advantages to mobile phone technology in situations like this (given a signal) which makes my eyes roll when I hear folks bemoaning the days when you had to have a coin for the 'phone box. "They can track you, you know", "Seeing youths always staring at their mobiles" etc.
 
escargot said:
Techy pointed out yesterday that the missing lads could have been tracked via their mobile phones. This would work if the area had a good enough signal which it seems is not the case.

Reminds me of the self-employed builder who was apt to go off on jobs alone, whose family didn't take much notice when he was missing one December years ago.
He was expected back for the holiday but didn't appear, and was found dead from exposure at New Year by the owners of the remote cottage he was renovating.

Poor bloke'd fallen from the roof and broken some limbs. His phone was present but the signal in the area, a deep valley, was too feeble.

So nobody knew where he was and he couldn't tell anyone. Awful.
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I was up in that exact area this May, staying just outside Tremadog. I think I had a decent phone signal most of the time, but then I was on holiday so I wasn't exactly checking every five minutes.
 
Stormkhan said:
There's great advantages to mobile phone technology in situations like this (given a signal) which makes my eyes roll when I hear folks bemoaning the days when you had to have a coin for the 'phone box. "They can track you, you know", "Seeing youths always staring at their mobiles" etc.
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One of the attractions of North Wales is that you can get off the mobile phone surveillance network. Obviously it can also be a disadvantage depending on circumstances.
 
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