Four teenagers drowned when the car they were travelling in left a Gwynedd road, the county's coroner has said.

Inquests into the deaths of Jevon Hirst, 16, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Hugo Morris, 18 were formally opened in Caernarfon earlier today.

A provisional cause of death by drowning has been given Katie Robertson, coroner for the area.

The hearing lasted for just a few minutes and has now been adjourned for further investigations to take place.

The teenagers from the Shrewsbury area were travelling in a vehicle along the A4085 at Garreg, Llanfrothen when the car they were travelling in left the road. Postmortem examinations have been carried out and the provisional causes of death provided, pending inquests.

A police investigation into the circumstances of the crash continues

Today's inquests have now been adjourned for those investigations to be completed, and no date has been set for the resumption of the inquests.

The teenagers travelled to Gwynedd on Sunday, 19 November. But when they failed to return home on Monday, 20 November, North Wales Police launched an appeal to the public to help find the boys.

Tragically their bodies were found on Tuesday, 21 November in their upturned, partially submerged car.

Police are appealing for dashcam footage as part of their investigation into how the vehicle left the road.

Supt Simon Barrasford of North Wales Police said: “Our deepest condolences and thoughts remain with the families of the four boys. They are all being supported by specially trained family liaison officers.

“A full and detailed investigation is underway to establish the cause of the collision. Part of that investigation involves reviewing CCTV footage and we’d like to thank everyone who has already made contact with us.

“Part of the investigation will also involve a full forensic vehicle examination and work is underway with our Forensic Collision Investigation Unit.

“We’d like to thank the local community in Garreg for their continued patience and understanding.

“We urge anybody who may have information or dash cam footage that could assist the investigation to contact officers at the Roads Crime Unit via the live webchat quoting reference number 23001169854.”