Louis Tomlinson donates money to backpacker appeal

Louis Tomlinson has made a "very sizeable donation" to help bring two stranded British backpackers home from Vietnam.

Rhys Sykes and Sarah Liddle from Louis' hometown of Doncaster, England, were left stranded in Vietnam with serious injuries following a road accident on Valentine's Day (14Feb16).

They set up a crowdfunding appeal to help raise the money needed for them to return home to receive medical treatment, and when the One Direction singer found out about their struggle he covered the costs.

"Louis heard about our appeal to get Rhys and Sarah home and his mum got in touch saying how upset he was to hear about what had happened and how he would like to help," Sarah's aunt Julie Liddle told the Doncaster Free Press. "He gave a very sizeable donation to the fund and we would like to say a very big thank you to Louis and his family for being so kind."

The couple returned to England last week (ends06Mar16), where Sarah is in hospital recovering after an operation to reset her left leg. Rhys has also undergone surgery on his broken foot.

This is the not the first time Louis has been charitable - he hosted a Cinderella Ball event for children's charity Believe in Magic at London's Natural History Museum in August 2015. He reportedly donated $2.8 million to the cause, while his bandmate Liam Payne paid $710,000 to have his face painted.

Although his hometown is close to his heart, Louis is living in Los Angeles following the birth of his son Freddie with stylist Briana Jungwirth.

He returned to the U.K. for the first time since Freddie's birth in January (16) to attend the BRIT Awards in London in February (16) and he admitted he was having a hard time leaving his newborn.

"(Fatherhood) is good. It's intense. It's really exciting," he said during an ITV2 interview. "This is my first time away from Freddie so it's tough."