An east Yorkshire climber has died after falling in an Australian mountain range.

Sam Dew, 21, from Fangfoss, near Pocklington, was airlifted more than 300 kilometres to Melbourne after losing his grip while climbing at Mount Arapiles, near Horsham, in the west of Victoria state.

He suffered head injuries and died six days later.

Parents Tony and Pam Dew, who run The Rocking Horse Shop in Fangfoss, were too distressed to talk about their loss today.

A spokesman for Victoria state police said Mr Dew had been climbing with four friends from America, Norway and Melbourne on a rock face called Tiger Wall on New Year's Eve.

He lost his grip after climbing 20 metres and plunged ten metres before his rope broke the fall.

Emergency service volunteers from nearby Horsham took 45 minutes to lower him. He was taken to Wimmera Base Hospital in the region before being flown to Melbourne.

The police spokesman said: "This is an extremely popular climbing area which attracts people from all over the world."

Mr and Mrs Dew, from Manor House Farm, are arranging for their son's body to be returned to Britain. A service will be held in Fangfoss Parish Church on Saturday.

News of Sam's death has been received with sadness by those who knew him at Holme-On-Spalding Moor primary school, Market Weighton School and Woldgate School in Pocklington, where he started his sixth-form studies but left before completing them.

The family is well-known for establishing the specialist rocking horse shop 20 years ago. The business also has a museum of rocking horses, some of which date back to the early 1800s.

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