A SCOT has died after falling from a ship in Gran Canaria.

Oil worker Colin Gillespie, 53, from Dundee, was spotted in the water near his vessel, the Stena IceMAX in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Colleagues pulled him out of the sea and made a desperate attempt to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene after police and paramedics were called.

The tragedy happened at Luz Port, the large maritime port in the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas.

Local reports said an initial examination of Mr Gillespie's body showed the dead man had suffered a blow to the head.

Police are investigating but do not think there is anything suspicious 

One local said: "The dead man was on a day off and had just returned to the ship.

"The area where he went into the water was the gap between the ship and where it was anchored to the dockside."

Mr Gillespie was seen passing a security post to board the ship around 11.50pm on Saturday.

Aberdeen-based Stena Drilling describes Stena IceMAX on its website as the world’s “first dynamically positioned, dual mast ice-class drillship.”