Two holidaymakers were killed when their plane crashed to the ground in Peru.

Warren Denham, 34, and Alastair Rowe, 34, died just two days into their trip when their light aircraft burst into flames shortly after take-off.

Mr Denham, a former Kingston University geography student, and Mr Rowe, an estate agent who grew up in Kingston, were killed with two other British tourists.

The pair were viewing the Nazca lines – ancient ground markings – when the plane crashed over the Pre-Inca World Heritage Site.

Mr Rowe’s heartbroken sister Samantha Osborn, 38, from Surrey, said: “He absolutely loved travel, it was what he lived for.

“He had taken the trip to get over the recent death of our father, which had hit him very badly.”

Mrs Osborn said she knew how popular he was after she had been flooded with messages of sympathy from 150 friends on Facebook.

Laura Wilkinson, who knew Mr Denham through the university rugby club, said: “I remember him as the person who would always go out of his way to make sure people were happy.

“He would be a really funny guy and joker but at the same time not needing to be the centre of attention.

“In the pub he would always make sure people on the table nearby were not disturbed too much. He was really caring and a jester.”

Former councillor Bart Ricketts knew Mr Denham when he was elected the vice-president of finance for the Kingston University students’ union in 1998.

He said: “He was a well-known person and was liked at the university and involved in the sports clubs and was involved in Rag.

“He was really easy-going and quite humourous. He lived life to the full and was a very social person. He was always quite bubbly.”

A Kingston University spokesman said: “Staff and students in the faculty of science have been extremely saddened to learn of the tragic death of Warren Denham while he was travelling in Peru.”

Mr Rowe, a talented photographer, lived in a flat in Woodleigh Gardens, Streatham, with three friends.

The Peruvian authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, which also killed British holidaymakers Andrew Brown, 30, and Gayle Callow, 34.

Flames were reported coming from the back of the plane before it plummeted.