The family and friends of a former Edgware school student, who died when her bus collided with a lorry in Ecuador, have paid tribute to a "beautiful, bubbly girl with her whole life ahead of her".

Emily Sadler, 19, from Northwood, Middlesex, was on a gap year after studying at the North London Collegiate School, in Canons Drive.

The group were travelling from the capital Quito to the coastal town of Puerto Lopez on Saturday when the bus collided with a truck near Jipijapa.

Miss Sadler last spoke to her family last Wednesday, April 9, when she rang to tell them about the "fantastic" time she was having.

Her family said: "She was a beautiful, bubbly girl with her whole life ahead of her. She was the kind of girl that everybody loved.

"Her loss is indescribable."

Friend Rebecca Stahlnacke, 14, stayed with the Sadler family when visiting England from Sweden last year. She called Miss Sadler "the most wonderful person" she had ever met.

She said: "I'm so happy I got to know her. I saw her as my older sister and at the same time as my best friend.

"If I wanted to describe Emily, I'd say that she's the girl who can always come up with something new. She's the one who makes you ride the scariest rollercoaster, dress up like a princess, sing like a crazy person even if singing is your biggest fear - just to have something to remember.

"Emily lived her life to the fullest but she had so many things left to do."

Miss Sadler was an enthusiastic traveller and had previously visited South Africa on a World Challenge trip with the North London Collegiate School.

Making the trip with VentureCo to South America by herself, she left the UK on March 27 planning to travel from Ecuador to Bolivia and Peru.

When the bus crashed, she had just completed a Spanish language course in Quito and was intending to do some voluntary work on a development project on the coast of Puerto Lopez before returning home.

One of five children, Miss Sadler had saved for the trip by working as a swimming teacher for the Hillingdon Borough Swimming Club and as a teaching assistant in a local school. This September she was due to start her first year at Manchester University to study history.

Emily lived with her parents Graham and Kay, her two sisters Annelisa and Libby, and her two brothers George and William.

The other four crash victims were named as Elizabeth Pincock, Indira Swann, Rebecca Logie and tour guide Sarah Howard.