The prime min­is­ter of Bar­ba­dos, David Thomp­son, has died of pan­cre­at­ic can­cer at the age of 48.

He died at his home in St Philip on the Caribbean is­land. He had been ill since March and had trav­elled sev­er­al times to New York for treat­ment.

Mr Thomp­son was elect­ed prime min­is­ter in Jan­u­ary 2008.

Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al Sir Clif­ford Hus­bands has ap­point­ed the at­tor­ney gen­er­al and deputy PM Fre­un­del Stu­art to head the gov­ern­ment un­til elec­tions in 2012.

Den­zil Dou­glas, the prime min­is­ter of St Kitts and Nevis, said Mr Thomp­son's death was a loss "not on­ly the peo­ple of Bar­ba­dos, but al­so the peo­ple of the Caribbean".

David John Howard Thomp­son, the sixth prime min­is­ter of Bar­ba­dos, was born on 25 De­cem­ber 1961 in Eng­land but grew up in Bar­ba­dos.

Af­ter a ca­reer in law he en­tered pol­i­tics, win­ning a by-elec­tion for the De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Labour Par­ty in 1987. He be­came head of the DLP in the ear­ly 1990s.

In the 2008 elec­tion, he led the DLP back to gov­ern­ment, end­ing the Bar­ba­dos Labour Par­ty's 13-year run in pow­er.

-bbc