A 22-year-old South African woman, Rolene Strauss, won the Miss World 2014 beauty pageant in London on Sunday, the organisers said in a statement.

Hungary's Edina Kulcsár came second and Elizabeth Safrit, representing the United States, came third.

This year's pageant, the 64th, was marred by tragedy after a Honduran beauty queen was found shot dead in a suspected crime of passion days before she was due to take part.

The pageant's 124 contestants travelled to the Oxford Union society earlier this month to discuss whether such competitions still had a place in modern society. British media reported that some students from Oxford University were disappointed that the event failed to generate a lively debate on the subject.