NORFOLK — John Robinson loved his job.
In the more than 10 years 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.
Japan, Hawaii and Thailand were among the places his job took him, 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 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 publicly identified. Both were subcontractors, and weren’t employed by the shipyard, according to an MHI spokesman.
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 Thursday, and said it was ruled an accident.