NORFOLK — John Robinson loved his job.
In the more than 10 years that he worked as a fleet service technician with PaR Marine Services in Norfolk, he traveled all over the world, according to his sister, Jasmine Robinson.
Among the places his work took him were Japan, Hawaii and Thailand, she said. The 55-year-old was preparing to travel to Australia for work last week when his family got word that he’d been killed in an accident at Marine Hydraulics International shipyard in Norfolk.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Jasmine Robinson said of the call she got from another family member about her brother’s death. “I still don’t really know what happened. I just know that it was an elevator accident.”
Robinson was one of two men who died in the Oct. 23 incident , according to the shipyard. The second man hasn’t been publically identified.
Police and paramedics were called to the facility early that morning. One man was pronounced dead at the scene, the other died after being taken to a hospital. Robinson’s family was told he died from blunt force trauma to his torso. A spokeswoman for the Tidewater Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the cause of death on Thursday, and said it was ruled an accident.