People from around the globe have been paying tribute to Joanna Toole, a marine animal welfare officer who tragically lost her life in a plane crash in Ethiopia yesterday.

Joanna, 36, from Exmouth, worked for the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and was one of the passengers aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 which crashed shortly after take off on Sunday, March 10.

The family of the passionate environmentalist were informed of the news yesterday by Joanna's partner.

Since the news broke yesterday colleagues, friends and family have all paid tribute to Joanna.

Joanna's boss Manuel Barange, director of FAO in Rome tweeted a tribute to her, he said: "So profoundly sad and lost for words at the loss of our wonderful @FAOfish officer @JoannaToole, who was on her way to represent @faofish at the #UNEA meeting in Nairobi on #ET302. A wonderful human being, who loved her work with a passion. Our love to her family and loved ones."

A spokesman for Anglia Ruskin University, Joanna's university, had this comment to make: "We are very sad to learn that unfortunately two of our former students, Ekta Adhikari and Joanna Toole, were on the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed on Sunday. Our thoughts go out to their families and friends and to all those affected by this tragic event."

One of Joanna's colleagues from the FAO, Rumiana Uzunova, also tweeted a heartfelt tribute to the passionate marine animal welfare officer, she said: "My dear friend Joanna, I never imagined that a day after celebrating your birthday I would wake up to this news. We saw each other yesterday before you boarded to Nairobi #ET302. You imagined a different world but instead left us so young. RIP my dear, I will truly miss you."

Joanna's father, Adrian Toole, said: "Joanna was a very soft and loving person. I remember when she was at Exmouth Community College she had a meeting with a careers advisor and told him that she wanted to work with animals.

"The advisor advised her against it but Joanna was undaunted, I can still remember how she worked, as a child, to protect a badger set near her Exmouth family home."