THE sister of 29-year-old Shane Powell spoke of her shock and devastation at losing her only brother.

Father-of-two Mr Powell, from Beechwood Walk, Trevethin, was killed in the accident alongside 47-year-old Jack Magee from Glandwr Street, Aberbeeg, 21-year-old Alex Williams, from Malpas, Newport and Karl Devlin, 19, from Malpas.

The BMW carrying the four men crashed through a concrete barrier at Swffryd Road, Swffryd, near Crumlin, before plunging into Monk's Quarry at around 3.50pm on Wednesday.

Rescuers battled against severe weather conditions to remove the men from the car.

Mr Powell's sister, Wendy Taylor, 43, said: "We are all in shock at this stage.

"My mam passed away 12 years ago and Shane always said to me he wanted to be with her. Now he is.

"All the family is in a bad way as we miss him very, very much. "He was very outgoing and had lots of friends. A lot of people knew him in Pontypool and Trevethin."

Mrs Taylor said her brother was due to become a dad for the third time in December with his girlfriend Kerry but would now never see the baby born.

She said: "He was hoping for a baby girl as he has two boys already. He loved his children." Mrs Taylor said her brother hit a difficult time in life when their mother, Joan Powell, died when he was just 16 but he had rebuilt his life.

She said he was a keen motorbike scrambler and had won several trophies in competitions.

Mrs Taylor said: "We don't know at this stage what happened but all the families are going through the same thing - we are all in shock.

"They would have had no chance as the car ended up on its roof. "The police are still trying to figure out what happened."

She said her brother lived with their father Fred, who was too upset to speak to the Argus last night.

The family left flowers at the scene of the accident with a message of condolence.

Mrs Taylor understood the BMW had controls set up for a disabled person to use.

She said her brother had worked in the building trade but was unemployed for some time.