A boy of 12 who fell 30ft to his death on a school skiing trip in the Austrian Alps lost his life as he saved a friend.
Police said Hayden Waller lost his footing as he rushed to break the fall of a classmate who had slipped on an icy ridge.
He broke his neck after falling down a gorge on a mountain in the southern Austrian resort of Mallnitz on an unsupervised evening trek.
The other pupil, who has not been named, escaped with minor injuries after tumbling only a few feet because of Hayden's heroism.
Last night, Hayden's father Gary, a 35-year-old mortgage broker, and his mother, Hayley, flew to Austria from their home in Gillingham to identify their son's body.
They said they were "absolutely devastated" but did not blame the school in any way.
The boys were among 39 aged between 12 and 18 on a week-long trip with seven teachers.
Hayden and three friends, aged 12 to 14, set out at dusk on Monday to walk up to a wooden hut used as a viewing platform nearly 500ft up a snow-covered mountain.
Wearing only training shoes and light clothing, they strayed off the footpath and clambered up a track before reaching an almost vertical rock face 50ft beneath the viewing platform. With no way of climbing it, they decided to go back.
Austrian police spokesman Horst Worhlgemuth said: "It seems one of the boys started to slip on the icy rock and was in danger of plunging down the mountain.
"At this point, Hayden chose to try to stop his fall. He saved the other boy's life because he slowed him down enough so that the boy fell only ten feet and broke his descent on a tree stump protruding from a rocky outcrop."
But the momentum of trying to break the fall of his friend unbalanced Hayden and he toppled backwards, smashing his head on the icy rock and tumbling down the mountain face for 30ft. Police believe he died instantly.
The two other boys managed to make their way down in temperatures of -6c to alert a passing hiker, who used his phone to call the emergency services.
They launched a dramatic night-time rescue, illuminating the mountainside with floodlights. A helicopter was unable to land at the site, so a doctor was lowered to where Hayden lay but found him dead.
The youngster's body was then winched on to the helicopter and taken away.
The boys who survived made it back to their hotel, the Belle Vue, to alert two teachers who went up the mountain but had to be rescued after becoming trapped.
The skiing trip was organised by the Howard Comprehensive School for boys in Rainham, Kent.
It has sent groups to the resort, in the southern province of Carinthia, for more than 20 years.
Hayden and his friends had apparently been given permission to go into town alone and do some shopping but decided to try to climb the mountain instead.
Mr Worhlgemuth said: "It was madness to attempt that route in these conditions in the clothes and footwear they were wearing."
Mrs Waller, 31, paid tribute to her "adventurous little boy".
She said: "Everyone loved him. He was the most loveable, likeable child you have ever come across and we are absolutely devastated.
"I want to make it clear that no one should be blamed. I am very confident that the Howard School staff and everyone involved did everything by the book. This was just a tragic accident."
The school group travelled to Austria by coach last Friday and were due to stay until this coming Sunday, but were returning to England last night.
