STUDENTS paid a silent tribute on their last day of school to a former pupil who lost his life in the mid-air collision on the German-Swiss border.

Captain Paul Phillips died after the DHL cargo plane he was flying was in collision with a Russian jet carrying 45-children going on holiday on Monday.

He attended Primet High School in Colne, which was then a secondary modern school, and left in 1972. As a mark of respect, headteacher of Primet Janet Walsh held a special remembrance service as part of the end of year assembly yesterday.

She told pupils not to forget that Capt Phillips's success as a pilot proved that they could achieve their ambitions with dedication and hard work.

Mrs Walsh said: "Paul Phillips was a former pupil here at Primet and left in 1972. Most of our staff who taught him have now left but the school is still proud of all he achieved. I told the children that pupils at Primet can go on to achieve and it is wonderful that he had done so well.

"Unfortunately, our thoughts are now with his family and we are sad about their loss and about the loss of all the other children killed in Monday's accident." She added: "It was our end-of-year assembly today where we traditionally celebrate the achievements of pupils from our school. I thought it would be appropriate in that context to draw the children's attention to the achievements and, sadly, loss of one of our former pupils."

Seventy-one passengers and crew, including 45 Russian children, died as the Barcelona-bound Tupolev 154 and Capt Phillips's plane collided at 35,000ft above Lake Constance on Monday evening.

Capt Phillips was born in Liverpool but moved to Pendle as a small child and lived in Colne. He attended Higherford Primary School.

He leaves his wife Ami and three children Aycee, eight, Christina, three and James, just four months. His mother Doreen Phillips is reported to still live in Colne, but is too upset to talk about the incident.

Capt Phillips trained as a pilot in the USA and Australia and he moved to Bahrain 20 years ago and joined DHL in 1989.