THE cause of a horrific accident which left two people dead and three others badly injured remains a mystery, an inquest heard yesterday.

Nicholas Porter, 20, of Hengoed, and Natasha Davies, 19, of Blackwood, died after the smash on Penmaen Road in Oakdale on April 3.

Yesterday an inquest in Newport heard the five young people had been to a party, leaving early because Mr Porter was drunk and had taken ecstasy, enough, said Gwent coroner David Bowen, to kill him.

While Miss Davies was driving them all home in her Vauxhall Corsa, for an unknown reason she failed to negotiate a bend and careered into a metal pole.

Police told the inquest the car had been travelling at about 35mph and there were no signs of braking or any evasive action being taken. There was only a small quantity of alcohol in her blood - way below the legal limit.

The hearing was told that none of the surviving passengers - Matthew Jones, Tamila Shafighian and Neil Parker - can remember what happened, but the three men, who were sitting in the back, were not wearing seatbelts.

In a statement read at the inquest Ms Shafighian said: "I can say nothing occurred that caused me concern before the accident. The next thing I can recall is somebody trying to put me in the back of an ambulance."

Mr Porter died at the scene from severe blood loss and Miss Davies died eight days later at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff.

Moments before the accident, motorist Michael Pinnell remembered seeing a flash of something in front of him which he later realised was the Corsa.

After the smash, using an extinguisher, he put out a fire which had started under the car.

The fire brigade then arrived and cut the young people free. They were all taken to hospital.

Ms Shafighian, who, the inquest heard, had also taken Ecstasy at the party, suffered multiple fractures, a detached jaw, broken feet and a punctured lung.

Matthew Jones had both his hips and wrists smashed, the ligaments in his legs were crushed and he needs surgery for a tear in his heart.

Recording verdicts of accidental death on Miss Davies and Mr Porter, Mr Bowen said: "Something happened in the car or outside that served to disrupt her concentration, which resulted in the accident."