A THURROCK man has died in a boat crash in the Cayman Islands.

John Turner, 70, who had moved to the idyllic Caribbean location from his home in Grays, was one of three people onboard a boat when it collided with another vessel on Sunday night.

The two boats crashed off the popular North Sound harbour marina, off Grand Cayman Island, at around 10pm.

One of the boats capsized but the three occupants of that vessel were not seriously hurt and were able to swim ashore. In the other boat police found Mr Turner, who was pronounced dead at the scene, as well as an injured woman who was taken to hospital with series injuries.

Another man who had been onboard was pronounced missing and a joint police air and sea search operation was launched to find him. Tragically, the dead body of the missing man was found some hours later.

Locally he was named as Emmanuel Brown, aged 42, from George Town – the capital of the Cayman Islands – and was a serving police officer and popular local sportsman.

Mr Turner moved to the Cayman Islands around three years ago after retiring. He had owned his own delivery business in the Grays area. He was divorced with grown up children.

Mikhail Campbell, spokesman for the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service said: “Two vessels collided, causing one of the vessels to capsize. The second vessel was located shortly afterwards. Two persons, a man and a woman, were located aboard the vessel. The woman was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital for treatment. The man was unresponsive and was subsequently pronounced dead.”