'Dead' backpacker turns up alive

Gary Sutton (left) and Mike Lewis were travelling together

A British backpacker reported dead in the Australian hostel fire has turned up alive and well.

Nicola Morgan approached police in Queensland on Monday after hearing reports of her death in the local media.

Ms Morgan attended a memorial service for the dead on Sunday unaware she was being listed as dead by some newspapers and agencies.

The British Foreign Office said she had never appeared on their list of missing victims but was reported in Australia to have been a victim of the blaze.

Mike Lewis: "He was a gentle person"

Foreign Office spokeswoman Katy Parker said: "It certainly seems that she contacted her parents soon after the fire, but we cannot be sure. We are just glad she is safe and well."

Six Britons and one Irish woman died in the blaze which killed 15 backpackers in Australia on Friday.

Five of the Britons have been named as Natalie Morris, 28, and Sarah Williams, 22, both from Aberfan, south Wales, Gary Sutton, 24, from Bath, Somerset, Michael Lewis, 25, from Bristol, and Melissa Smith, whose home town is not known.

'Beyond belief'

The sixth dead Briton has not yet been identified.

Gary Sutton's mother, Nicola, has been speaking of her family's horror and pain.

She said: "It is too horrific for me to even contemplate, to even think that anybody could even do a thing like that. It is just beyond belief.

"We are really shocked and traumatised here."

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She said it took them two days to get through to the helpline after hearing the news on televison.

Ms Sutton, who was diagnosed and treated for cancer five years ago, said she did not know if this tragic news would affect her condition.

'Difficult to accept'

The Sutton familiy have not decided if they would travel to Australia.

Another parent Roy Lewis, father of Michael, spoke of the difficulty in accepting that his son was dead and paid tribute to him.

Mr Lewis said: "He was such a gentle person. The trouble with Mike was that there was not enough of him to go around."

He said: "We always encouraged him to go on the trip, they had been planning it for so long and I think he was planning to come back, earn some more money and go back out there.

"He could definitely have become a trekker, he was really enjoying it out there, although he got a bit homesick at Christmas."

In the Welsh village of Aberfan, where two of the victims came from, prayers were said for them.

The Premier of Queensland is expected to visit the UK next week to meet the families of the six Britons who died in the blaze.