Tributes have been paid to a young British hiker who was among 19 people killed when a packed passenger bus veered off a treacherous stretch of road and plunged 200 metres down a steep mountainside in Nepal.
Dominic Ethan Stewart, from Exeter, was described by his family as a 'very loving and caring young man who was happiest trekking'. He would have turned 24 next month. Stewart had just completed the Annapurna Circuit, a high-altitude trek in the Himalayas.
The bus was travelling overnight from Pokhara to Kathmandu when it went out of control at Behighat in Dhading district, 50 miles (80km) west of the capital. Twenty-five others were injured. The dead also included a 40-year-old Chinese woman and a 32-year-old man from India.
A Foreign Office statement said: 'We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Nepal and are in contact with local authorities.' Rescuers worked through the night but were hampered by a lack of equipment and the remote location.
Nepal's home ministry has set up a five-member taskforce to investigate the accident. Vehicle accidents are frequent on Nepal's twisting mountain roads, which are often poorly maintained.
