Two friends who were among those killed in a horror crash when their car careered off a slip-road had shared pictures of themselves hours before the tragedy.
The group had been clubbing together in Newport and Cardiff on Friday night and visited a caravan site in nearby Porthcawl when they disappeared.
It is feared the group lay unnoticed inside the overturned vehicle in trees and undergrowth next to the busy A48 all weekend before they were discovered at around midnight on Monday.
Police named the three dead victims as childhood friends Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, and Rafel Jeanne-Actie, 24.
Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Laughlin, 32, were found alive in the wreckage by friends who had launched a search party and rushed to hospital.
Tragically, Darcy and Rafel had shared a Snapchat post of themselves together just hours before the deadly crash.
Angry relatives slammed police for failing to find the Volkswagen Tiguan sooner following the smash near Cardiff in South Wales.
One mum repeatedly drove past the scene during a frantic search without knowing her injured daughter was just feet away.
Sophie’s mum said “the next 48 hours are critical” as her trainee bank manager daughter undergoes surgery.
They were last seen at 2am on Saturday in CCTV footage recorded at a petrol station in the Llanedeyrn area of Cardiff.
The crash is believed to have happened minutes later as the men were driving the three women back to Newport.
Friends and family began appealing for information on Saturday after being unable to contact the group by phone.
They began searching embankments and ditches alongside local roads on Sunday as worries grew for their safety.
Eventually a female friend and her father made the grim discovery by torchlight as they walked along the slip-road.
There was no evidence yesterday of skid marks or roadside damage that would have alerted other motorists to the tragedy.
Firefighters and police were seen deep in the undergrowth where the white 4x4 had come to rest.
Green fencing was erected as the bodies of the three victims were removed by stretcher and loaded into a private ambulance.
Eve’s sister Sherridan Borg confirmed her death in a moving Facebook tribute.
She wrote: “My beautiful little sister I’ve cried laughed and fought with you every week, but I’ve never been without you “We always said, ‘I got you always’ but now I’m sat here feeling so empty because you’re not here with me anymore, and I can’t accept this!
“There is no sister like you, you always made me feel so important, sending me messages to remind me how much you love me and I’d tell you just how much I loved you more!
“You saved me from so much Eve all the times I’ve been low it was you that I’d turn to, and now I’m feeling heavy because I couldn’t save you.
“I loved seeing you grow into this beautiful young woman & you used to get so worried that we wouldn’t be close as you grew up.
“But I’d remind you that sisters don’t ever break a bond and ours well there isn’t, no bond like ours my girl you’ll always be my baby sister!
“I was never ready to let you go, my body is aching without you. Please watch over me. I love you forever & always.”
It is the second road traffic tragedy to hit the family, who live in Newport.
Eve’s sister Xana was killed in a car crash in January 2015 caused by a driver who was drunk and on drugs.
They later appeared in Sky documentary ‘This is Our Family’ calling for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers.
In a 2015 Facebook post talking about her sister’s death, teenager Eve spoke of her “agony and heartache”.
“It’s so hard to understand or accept that she’s gone and I’m never going to be able to see her again,” she wrote.
“A million times I’ve needed her and a million times I’ve cried. If my love alone could have saved her she never would have died.”
Eve's stepdad is Tony Borg, a former boxer who trained Welsh Olympic medal winners and world champion Lee Selby Rafel was the son of ex-Cardiff City and QPR star Leon Jeanne, who played for the clubs in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He was once dubbed Wales’ most promising footballer, but his career was plagued by alcohol and drug abuse.
In 2015 he was jailed for 30 months for his part in a plot to supply cocaine in South Wales.
And in 2019 he was convicted of dangerous driving after being chased by police on the same road where his son was found.
Storm Buchanan, one of Darcy’s relatives, confirmed she had died in a heartbreaking Facebook post.
“Our Darcy has been found, unfortunately our family haven’t been given the news that we had hoped for,” she wrote.
Sophie’s mum Anna Certowicz, 42, revealed she drove past the accident scene without knowing the car was there.
“I drove past her three times, she was 20 yards away lying there scared next to her friend who were dead,” she said.
“But I didn’t see her because of the trees and there was a dip - it’s a busy road, thousands of people must have gone past.”
“She was lying there wondering if help would ever arrive. She must have thought she was going to die. It is terrifying.
“It would have got light and then dark as night fell on Saturday, then she had to go through that again until she was found.
“But she had head injuries so she may not have really known what was going on, at least I hope she didn’t.
“The next 48 hours are critical - she is having surgery now. We are all just hoping and praying she makes it.
“I can’t stop thinking about how Sophie had to lie there wondering if she would ever be found.
“Sophie was conscious some of the time. She called out but no-one was close enough to hear her.”
She accused police for failing to take her concerns seriously as she tried to track down her daughter.
“The police told me to stop ringing - they weren’t annoyed, just dismissive,” she said.
“I’m glad they are investigating, I’m not happy about the way it was handled.”
Survivor Shane is a dad who runs a bouncy castle hire company in Cardiff.
Pal Rachael Bartlett said she felt “sick” at the thought of him and Sophie trapped alive in the wreckage.
“It makes me so sad to think how helpless our Shane must have felt trapped inside,” she wrote on Facebook.
Gwent Police handed the investigation over to South Wales Police after referring itself to the IOPC.
South Wales Poice confirmed they were called to a report of a car being located off the A48 in the St Mellons area of Cardiff.
In a statement the force said: “South Wales Police is carrying out an investigation into the road traffic collision to establish what happened.
“Our thoughts are with the those affected by this incident.”
