Teacher dies just days after 400 pupils gather outside his home to sing

A schoolteacher who was battling cancer has died just days after hundreds of his pupils gathered outside his home to sing hymns.

Last week, the Christ Presbyterian Academy school in Nashville, Tennessee suspended lessons after hearing that Ben Ellis had stopped treatment on his aggressive form of oesophagal cancer.

The video of the incident, shared on Facebook by a local musician, has been viewed 30 million times.

Speaking afterwards, Ellis described the gesture as "amazing" and explained that it made him feel "not alone".

It overwhelmed me that God would fill that many students with that much love, not just for me but also for one another. We had this community that was built on loving one another, instead of worried about self.

The Latin and Bible studies teacher passed away on Friday, the school's headmaster confirmed. He leaves behind a wife and five children.