Gwent and South Wales police also confirm more than 46 hours passed between last sighting and wreckage being found

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.

The last confirmed sighting of the five people was at 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, about 2.5 miles from where they were found.

The crash happened during the early hours of Saturday, with the exact time to be confirmed by the investigation, including by studying CCTV and automatic number plate recognition footage.

The first missing report was made to Gwent police at 7.34pm on Saturday; further missing person reports were made to Gwent police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm. Another missing person report was made to South Wales police at 5.37pm on Sunday.

At 11.50pm on Sunday the police helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff, which resulted in the vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.

Gwent police officers, who were in the area conducting inquiries, discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle at 12.15am on Monday.