Two teenage girls who died in a suicide pact in a fume-filled car were depressed because they longed to return to South Africa.

As shocked friends of Elizabeth Gold and Jennifer Prinn, both 17, were told of the tragedy, it was revealed the childhood friends had found it difficult to settle in their new lives.

Elizabeth had moved to Crawley from South Africa three years ago, while Jennifer's family moved to Cork, Ireland, a year later.

It was while Jennifer was on a short pre-Christmas holiday to England that the two girls, one of whom is known to have suffered from depression, decided to commit suicide at a friend's house after a party on Saturday night.

They were found in the garage of a house in Mayfield, in the Pound Hill area of Crawley, by Andrew Sutton, 17.

He held the party while his parents were away. He thought the girls had made their way back to Elizabeth's flat in Crawley.

But Andrew was shocked to open the garage doors on Sunday morning to find the bodies slumped in his parents' car.

A hosepipe led from the exhaust to the inside.

Last night Jennifer's father, speaking from the family home in Ballincollig, a suburb of Cork, said: "Jennifer moved to Ireland from South Africa 18 months ago. She was homesick and unable to settle in Ireland. Elizabeth, one of her friends from South Africa, moved to Crawley and they used to visit each other.

"There is no reason why they committed suicide other than depression."

Jennifer, like Elizabeth, went to a local Roman Catholic school. Elizabeth was a pupil at St Winifrid's School, Crawley.

Elizabeth's father, Campbell Gold, 49, a writer, of Broadfield Barton, Broadfield, said his daughter had always been "a shoulder to cry on" for her many friends.

The two girls had left notes for their families.

He said: "This is a great loss and unexpected. Tizzy was very friendly and out-going and an excellent student.

"She was always a counsellor for her friends and was looking forward to going to university."

Elizabeth also worked as a waitress at Pizza Hut in Crawley Leisure Park.

Manager Adrian King said her death had come as a shock to everyone."

Det Sgt Michael Beard said: "Both families are completely devastated by this tragedy. It has been quite appalling."

An inquest will be held.