Lake tragedy survivor speaks of her grief

The survivor of a crash which killed her husband, mother and two foster sons when their car plunged into a reservoir has spoken for the first time about her grief.

Denise Griffith, 55, thanked the emergency services for "rescuing" her family, after laying flowers at the scene.

Mrs Griffith remained at the side of the Clywedog reservoir at Llanidloes for hours, until police and fire rescue teams retrieved the bodies of her mother Phyllis Hooper, 84, husband Emyr Griffith, 66, and their two foster children Peter Briscome and Liam Govier, both 14, from the water.

In a statement issued through Dyfed Powys Police, she said: "At this difficult time, we would just like to say we are all extremely devastated by the tragic incident on Wednesday, April 20.

"We are helping each other as a family and would like to thank the whole rescue team for all their hard work and efforts in rescuing our mother, my husband and the two boys.

"Also the kind words from our neighbours and friends. We would appreciate if the media would now leave us to grieve as a family."

Mrs Griffith was driving a Peugeot 807 when it careered off the road around the reservoir at the Bwylch y Gle Dam and into the water following a collision with a Ford Mondeo. She escaped with minor injuries.

A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and released on police bail pending further investigation. He was named locally as Gordon Dyche from the Llanidloes area.

The family, from Pontypridd, near Car-diff, had been holidaying in the Machynlleth area when the tragedy happened.