Crash couple were to marry

The couple described the trip as a "holiday of a lifetime"

A couple who died in a South African bus crash were planning to get married, their families said.

On Friday tributes were paid to Neil Pike and Christine Rowe who "adored each other".

Mr Pike, 35, and Ms Rowe, 30, from Lancashire, were among eight Britons to die in the New Year's Eve crash after their bus driver swerved to avoid a man, who was said to have walked in to the road to commit suicide.

The pair, from Preston, were in South Africa as part of a safari break on a "holiday of a lifetime".

In a statement their families said Mr Pike and Ms Rowe were a "young, energetic and fun-loving couple...who had their lives together in front of them".

'Feel proud'

"They adored each other," the statement said. "They were not only devoted to each other, but also to their families, friends, and their vocations.

"We could not have been more proud of them.

"It is of enormous comfort to us all that their passing was with each other, in a country which they looked forward to visiting, and while doing the things which they both loved so much."

Ms Rowe was reported to have worked as a nurse, while Mr Pike was a computer engineer.

They were said to have got engaged in Prague last summer and had recently moved in together in Freckleton, near Preston.