HUNDREDS of mourners said a final goodbye to a Blackburn student who died after falling 150ft from a cliff during a college trip.

Relatives and friends from the South and the Midlands joined Asif Bharucha's parents for formal and informal events in homes, a mosque and Pleasington Cemetery.

And staff from Blackburn College, where the 17-year-old studied business and tourism, were among those who joined his father Altaf, 42, mother Nayma, 38, sister Nazneen, ten, and eight-year-old brother Ibrahim.

The student fell from a coastal footpath at Lizard Point in Cornwall on Tuesday. Witnesses said he was startled by a barking dog.

Asif suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital in Truro. An investigation has been launched by the Health and Safety Executive.

In keeping with Islamic rules requiring funerals to take place as soon as possible, his body was driven to Blackburn for his funeral at Pleasington Cemetery.

Earlier in the morning, family, friends and neighbours paid their respects at Asif's Shear Brow home and at Bicknell Street Mosque.

In a room at the mosque, they filed past his body as it lay in a coffin, whispering their prayers and thoughts.

One of his uncles, Saeed Dudhia, 43, of Billinge Avenue, Blackburn, said: "The family is devastated and still in shock. Asif's mother, particularly, cannot accept that he has gone. We are a close-knit family and this has been very shocking.

"He was such a lovely boy, never in a bad mood or angry. He was studying tourism and business at college, looking forward to going to university and then getting into the business."

He recalled regularly watching Blackburn Rovers with Asif at Ewood Park.

"We started going when Asif was just five. He accompanied my son, Faazil, and we were all season ticket holders."

Another uncle Yunus Bharucha, from Ilford in Essex, said: "We went to collect his body from Cornwall on Wednesday."

Asif had attended St Francis Primary School and Beardwood High School.

The college's new principal Ian Clinton said: "We were eager to pay our last respects to Asif, his family and community. He enriched the college and is already desperately missed. He was capable and lively, a good worker and student council member. He also was involved with community and youth groups in Shear Brow."