Department of Marine and Ports staff were plunged into mourning this weekend after a workmate died suddenly yesterday morning in Dockyard.

A department source said the middle-aged man “fell ill while helping a colleague on a boat”.

He added: “It has been very shocking to his family, his friends, and to all of us in the department”.

The man, who has not been named, is believed to have been off-duty at the time.

Ambulance and fire personnel battled to save the man’s life at the scene before he was rushed to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital at about 10am.