TEENAGER Amy Ransom has died after falling from a mountain top in Vietnam while on a school expedition.

The 17-year-old from Wycombe High School in Marlow Hill, High Wycombe, fell to her death while trekking with seven other school mates on Monday.

The tragedy is the second for the family five years ago Amy's 16-year-old brother Lewis was killed in a road accident while riding his bike in Hughenden.

Amy, from Bryants Bottom in Hughenden Valley, slipped off the mountain path while climbing with fellow pupils, a teacher, leader and two guides at Fan Si Pan Mountain near the village of Sa Pa in northern Vietnam.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "She fell around 500 metres down a mountainside but it is unclear whether she died immediately from her fall or afterwards from her injuries."

World Challenge Expeditions, based in North Acton, West London, organised the trip and said an internal inquiry had been launched to discover how the accident happened. The group informed Amy's parents within two hours of finding out about the accident.

Executive chairman Charles Rigby said the weather had been bad at the time and the path slippery and that Amy had suffered a 'very bad fall into a gully'.

He defended his company's safety record insisting: "I am confident of the quality of the leaders they are extremely well-trained, well-qualified and experienced.

"The leader in this case is jungle-trained and has been with youngsters like this often."