FAMILY and friends of an Oxford woman who died after a plane she was never meant to board crashed in Indonesia 20 years ago have planted a tree in her memory.

In 1997, Sally Horsman's flight from Jakarta to Medan was cancelled due to thick smog and she was put on the Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 instead.

However, the plane plunged into a ravine after the pilot was told to turn left instead of right by Air Traffic Control - all 234 people on board were killed.

Her body was never found and sister Jill Horsman said the new tree - planted on Tuesday next to Port Meadow - would be a place to remember her in Oxford.

Mrs Horsman, 59, said: "To say she is sorely missed is an understatement, there's not a day that goes by when I don't miss her and think about her.

"Her body was never recovered so we have created a series of places we can go to think about her and remember her.

"It's wonderful to have this tree planted in Oxford - she loved nature and always used to take Poppy on walks around Iffley to explore."

She added: "She was the most honest person I have ever met and so generous, she would always take people out for meals and was wonderful with her nieces."

Sally, Jill and Jill's daughter Poppy were all living in Arnold Road, Donnington at the time and Sally was working for Oxford-based agricultural advisors LMC International.

Over the past 19 years the family has bought a field near Otmoor and dedicated it to Sally, who was 38 when she died, and also put a bench in Nuneham Courtenay, where she loved to walk.

Her niece Poppy, who was seven when Sally died, said: "It's not just who she was that I miss who she could have been in my life - she was a wonderful person.

"When she died it was the darkest time of my mum's life."

She added: "It's great that her former colleagues have done this for her and great that they still remember her and think about her."

James Fry, who worked with her at LMC International, said he and other colleagues had tried several times to get a tree planted over the years.

He said: "We always said we would plant a tree for her in the city and after several failed attempts we have always kept an eye out for the opportunity.

"The council were going to plant a few trees on The Spinney in Waterways and we thought it would lovely to plant one for Sally as it's almost 20 years since she died.

"She only turned up at a temp initially but she was wonderful and so enthusiastic about her work and it shows how loved she was that we are all here many years later."