Carwyn’s handsome smile lit up any room... now we’ve got a vast void in our hearts
Devastated family pay tribute to ski boy, 7, killed in Alps plunge
THE family of the seven-year-old British boy killed in the French Alps say his death has left a ‘vast void in their hearts’.
Carwyn Scott-Howell was described as a ‘daring, outgoing and determined’ youngster whose ‘handsome smile lit up any room’.
The schoolboy was skiing with his family when he became separated from his mother and headed into dense woodland where he fell over a 164ft drop.
Footprints in the snow eventually led police to his body, investigators revealed last night. They also described how the boy’s mother Cari, 44, desperately tried to find her missing son.
In a moving tribute, Carwyn’s family described how he ‘made life full of laughter with never a dull moment’.
‘Seven years is too short a time to be an angel in the sky,’ they added. ‘Carwyn
‘Sliding marks amid final steps’
Carwyn was an adorable, caring person who gave so much love... he made life full of laughter with never a dull moment ... seven years is too short Family statement
was an adorable, caring person who gave so much love. The family cannot explain their feeling of utter devastation with a vast void in their hearts.’
Carwyn, f rom Talybont- on- Usk in Wales, was said to have been a ‘very competent skier and snowboarder’ who had started skiing at the age of three.
The family said they had spent ‘ the most happy ski holiday together’ in the resort of Flaine in the days before the tragedy stuck.
They were enjoying their last run of the day when the boy’s sister Antonia, nine, lost her ski on a jump and Carwyn pressed on ahead.
His mother stopped to help her daughter and continued to the bottom of the piste. But Carwyn – who modelled himself on the TV adventurer Bear Grylls – was nowhere to be seen.
Mrs Scott-Howell returned to their hotel believing her son had made his own way back, but returned to the mountain when she found he wasn’t there.
Pierre-Yves Michau, the judge heading the investigation, said yesterday: ‘She asked everyone if they had seen him.’
It is believed Carwyn left the piste and entered woodland because he had spotted the resort through the trees. Taking off his skis, he contin- ued on foot as he hurried to get there. Police chief Michel Ollagnon confirmed that officers had been led to the boy’s body by footprints in the snow. He said the final steps were broken up by ‘sliding marks’ where Carwyn had tackled the sharper inclines on his backside.
Mr Ollagnon said: ‘We think he was attracted by the ski station that he could see below. We think he was heading for the resort.’
Police last night said Carwyn’s body is ready to be repatriated but his family remained in the Alps. Back in Wales, his friends have written in a condolence book on display at Brecon Cathedral: ‘Miss you in class. Miss you at playtime. We will miss you always.’
Alongside the book is a picture of Carwyn dressed in his karate kit. At the youngster’s school in Brecon, head teacher Emyr Jones said pupils were devastated, adding: ‘We are all grieving.’ He described Carwyn as a ‘lively, likeable pupil who will be greatly missed’ at Ysgol Y Bannau.
County councillor Liam Fitzpatrick said the community would rally behind the Scott-Howells, who are well known for their award-winning farm shop. He added: ‘It’s horrendous. A tragic, tragic accident.’
Carwyn lived with his parents at their farmhouse in the village near the Brecon Beacons. He is said to have loved the mountains and helping on the farm where he had grown up. The f amily often attended food fairs across the country and David Cameron was pictured buying a scotch egg from the family’s stand last year.
A schoolboy from Birmingham has died during a family holiday in the Canary Islands. It is thought talented footballer Logan Kehoe, 13, drowned at a resort complex in the Costa Teguise area of Lanzarote on Saturday.