A team of 30 officers is investigating the crash

They died in a two-car collision on the A31 at Ropley on Wednesday night.

Duncan Brown, 25, of Old Alresford, Hants, and Rogan Smart and Daniel Dewhurst, both 19 and of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, were in a Peugeot 106.

Peugeot driver Samuel Sayer, 20, passenger Kris Pendlebury, 21, and Ford Focus driver, Ian Ledsham, 51, also died. His 18-year-old son survived.

He suffered internal injuries and broken fingers and is recovering in a high-dependency unit at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

Rogan Smart and Daniel Dewhurst were both contractors from the Isle of Wight who had been working as plasterers at a new Travelodge in Four Marks, close to the scene of the crash.

They had taken a lift with the three other men, all close friends who lived locally, after watching the England and Northern Ireland football match at a pub.

Three girlfriends of the men were travelling in a separate car after the match, and came upon the crash scene when they went looking for them.

Samuel Sayer and Kris Pendlebury were earlier named as being from Bramdean and Ropley respectively.

Horrendous tragedy

Ian Ledsham was from nearby Cheriton.

A team of 30 officers is now investigating what caused the accident, which happened at about 2330 BST.

Officers are trying to trace the driver of a silver Mercedes car and the driver - possibly a man wearing army or navy epaulettes - of an older-style Japanese car, who may be critical witnesses.

Both the Ford Focus he was driving and the Peugeot 106 were severely damaged in the crash, which is believed to have been at high speed.

Insp Tony Browne described the accident as "an horrendous tragedy" and the worst collision he had attended for the "total number of casualties" in his 22 years of working in the road policing division.