Joel Lia was in the car just ours before it was involved in a collision that killed three passengers (Picture: Wales News Service)
A sixth passenger has laid bare the final hours he shared with his five friends before a car crash killed three and injured two in Cardiff, Wales.
Eve Smith and Darcy Ross, both 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died in the A48(M) wreck near the St Mellons area of Cardiff last Saturday.
Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, are now fighting for their lives at the University Hospital of Wales in the capital city.
The group of friends had been enjoying a night out at the Mufflet nightclub in Newport when their car crashed into a woodland in the early hours.
The group of five had gone for a night out in Newport (Picture: Facebook/Media Wales)
Police have been using CCTV and number plate recognition cameras to understand what happened, believing just their car was involved.
But also aboard the white Volkswagen Tiguan was Joel Lia, 27, who was dropped off only hours before the incident.
Police had been reportedly searching for the sixth rider but Joel is now ‘fully cooperating’ with the force, a source has said.
The insider said: ‘He has been cooperating fully with the officers in the case and is understandably very upset by the events of that night.’
Joel left the car at around 2am in nearby Pentwyn, around two miles from the tragedy.
Police understand that he was with Rafel and Shane as they met up with Eve, Darcy and Sophie in the social club.
Police had been searching for a sixth rider aboard the car (Picture: Wales News Service)
Rafel was a ‘very close friend’ of Joel and had gone out together the night before.
They all then hopped into their Volkswagen and drove around 38 miles to Porthcawl where Shane had a caravan in the Trecco Bay camp.
An alleged noise complaint was registered in the area but police do not believe it ‘played any major part’ in the incident.
Joel asked his friends to give him a lift to his home before they filled up their tank and headed to Newport to drop the three women home.
It would take 46 hours for the five to be discovered in their overturned car.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hoborough of Gwent Police said: ‘This is an extremely sad situation, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of each of the young people involved.
Sophie Russon is now fighting for her life after suffering serious injuries (Picture: Wales News Service)
‘We will continue to support the investigation and would ask members of the public to refrain from speculation during this period.’
Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies of South Wales Police added: ‘Our thoughts continue to be with the families and all those affected by this tragic incident.
‘Specialist officers are carrying out a detailed investigation to piece together what has happened.’
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He gave a ‘full account’ of what happened to police.