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The family of a British student who died in a zip wire accident in the Swiss Alps have said she had planned to make a career

out of outdoor pursuits.

Andrea Watton, 21, from Fordingbridge, Hampshire, crashed into a rock face on the ride on Sunday. It is understood she had

not secured herself properly.

She had been with six other sports science students on a visit to the village of Saas-Fee.

Ms Watton's family said she had died doing something "she really loved".

The Bangor University student, who had also lived in Salisbury, Wiltshire, had been on a "via ferrata" - a mountain hiking

route fitted with cables, ladders and bridges - when the accident happened.

In a statement released through Hampshire police, Ms Watton's family said the student had been on the visit to Switzerland as

part of her degree studies.

"She lived life to the full and followed her dreams by travelling the world, experiencing many exciting adventures and

touching so many people's lives," her family said.

'Great outdoors'

The statement added: "She loved outdoor pursuits and planned to make a career out of this.

"She was always eager to be in the great outdoors and to try all new activities."

Ms Watton's family added that it was a "tragedy that such a promising young woman had such a short life and will never

realise her incredible potential".

In the statement, they added: "Her final moments were spent doing an activity that she really loved."

A local police spokesman said previously that despite the reservations of Ms Watton's colleagues, she had fixed only two

hooks to the zip wire cable and launched herself.

The local magistrate in Haut-Valais has opened an investigation into the incident.