Austria crash teenager is mourned

At 16, Rebecca was the youngest of the five crash victims

Friends and family of a Kent teenager who was killed in a coach crash in Austria while on holiday have been mourning her death.

At 16, Rebecca Earland was the youngest of five people who died when the coach they were in plunged 60m down an embankment near Salzburg on Tuesday.

Flowers and cards expressing shock and sympathy have been laid outside the Earland's Tonbridge home.

Rebecca's father, mother and brother were all injured in the crash.

Critical condition

The teenager's father, Geoff Earland, 48, is a firefighter based at Vale Road, Maidstone.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service confirmed on Thursday that he had been seriously injured in the crash while his wife Celia remains in a critical condition.

Rebecca's brother Nathan received minor injuries.

School friend Nathalie Bartholomew said the news of Rebecca's death had come as a shock.

"I think her closest friends are going to take it very badly," she said.

"I think everyone is going to be quite hurt by it because she was so lovely and such a nice person."

Mr Earland suffered serious injuries and his wife is in a critical condition

Stephen Bovey, head teacher at Hillview School for Girls, said Rebecca's death would be difficult for many to come to terms with.

"This is something that hits an anxiety deep in every teacher.

"It's the sort of thing teachers always have somewhere in the backs of their minds when they say goodbye to pupils at the end of a year.

"You always have the hope that they will all come back safe and well for the start of the next term."

Rebecca's family has requested that tributes be sent to the fire station in Vale Road where Mr Earland works instead of their Thorpe Avenue home.

The driver of the coach - which was carrying 42 British tourists when it crashed at Bad Duerrnberg near Hallein, south of Salzburg - has been charged with causing death by negligence.