A passenger who was dropped off before a horror crash which killed three of his friends spent 13 hours searching for their missing car.
Joel Lia was not in the white Volkswagen Tiguan when it veered off the road in the early hours of March 4 on the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales.
The mangled vehicle lay hidden from view off the A48(M) in St Mellons, before it was located nearly 48 hours later, as desperate friends and family joined police in a search.
Joel - who was revealed last week as the mystery passenger - spent half a day trawling up and down the area after he realised what had happened, a friend said.
The 27-year-old's mum also confirmed he had been working with police to piece together what happened.
Close friend Rafel Jeanne, 24, was killed in the smash, as were childhood pals Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21.
Other passengers Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The latter has only just regained consciousness and learned what happened.
Joel had been with Rafel and Shane at Newport social club The Muffler on Friday, March 3, when they met Eve, Darcy and Sophie.
They later all got into the car and travelled 38 miles to the Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl, where Shane has a caravan.
Following an altercation at the site, the group drove back to the Welsh capital where Joel was dropped off near his home in Pentwyn prior to the crash at 2.03am.
The group was heading back to Newport to drop off the three women.
In a Facebook post last Monday morning, a friend listed Joel as among those who had been searching for the car.
They said: "Heartbroken we could not find them sooner, we all really did try for hours and hours."
They went on to describe how "after 12/13 hours of searching", the group "got the call we was all so dreading".
"The car had been found, we rush to the scene and wait," they added.
Joel's mum then posted last Thursday to respond to much speculation about who the passenger was that had been dropped off before the crash.
She said, at that point, police had been speaking to her son for four days.
She continued that Joel had given officers "enough info" to the extent the victims' families "grew concerned that [they] should have escalated the search".
She said speculation suggesting police had to track down her son to question him was wide of the mark.
"He's been helping and is actually at the moment the only witness to events leading up to [the] devastating accident," Joel's mum added.
Joel was seen on CCTV with Rafel as they dropped off a friend at her home on Thursday, March 2.
Another friend also told the Daily Mail she had messaged Rafel on the Saturday evening (March 4), hours after the crash but was concerned when he didn't reply, only to find Joel was having the same issue.
Izzy Sinnott said: "I was texting him on Saturday night and when he didn't reply I thought that's a bit strange.
"Then I heard from Joel and he said the same thing – that he couldn't get hold of Rafel."
The car was found in the early hours of March 6, with families of the victims criticising police for not starting a search sooner.
A South Wales Police spokesperson told the Mirror on Friday: "There is a 6th person who is a witness in the investigation."
In a separate press release later the same day, the force added there had been "incorrect reports" in relation to the sixth person involved.
It confirmed a man was dropped in the Pentwyn area before the crash and "has assisted the investigation as a witness".
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into the actions of South Wales Police and Gwent Police during the search for the group.
