Tributes have flooded in for Joseph Grech, the nursing aide who died on Saturday, with his grieving community describing him as a kind and devout man who was immensely dedicated to his job. 

The 48-year-old was involved in a collision with an ambulance outside Mater Dei Hospital on Saturday evening.

He was pronounced dead on the spot.

A 54-year-old Romanian woman - Grech's colleague - was also hit and remains grievously injured. 

A magisterial inquiry has been opened into the incident and a police investigation is still ongoing. 

Joseph Grech and his son Francesco. Photo: Facebook

The loss of Grech - father to a young child - has rocked the medical community where he was known to work tirelessly, as well as that of Cospicua residents, where many grieved the loss of an active member of the local community. 

Posting several pictures of Grech including photos with their son, his wife Lorraine Aquilina thanked the public for the solidarity shown over the tragic loss of her husband. 

“I cannot help but mention Joseph’s joyful, impulsive and loud character, but above all else, the love and enormous devotion he had towards Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and our lord Jesus Christ,” she said. 

“What happened yesterday meant that in the blink of an eye, I had to give him up, but he’s left us to join them, and his father and mother, whom he loved dearly.” 

“Rest in peace Joseph, and please help me continue raising our treasure Francesco from up there, together with my parents and with the blessing of God and the immaculate gaze of Our Lady. We love you,” Aquilina wrote. 

She also wished a speedy recovery to Grech's colleague.

"Devotion" is the word many used to describe Grech’s approach to life, both in his professional life working in the ITU with some of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients as well as in his community, where his dedication to the religious feast activities was remembered fondly by many, particularly when it comes to musical and pageantry aspects of feast celebrations. 

Former MP and Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disability Oliver Scicluna recalled his experience of Grech’s work first-hand. 

“I salute you, my friend, thank you for the gentleness you showed me. I will never forget our discussions,” he said.

Cancer support NGO Puttinu Cares also expressed sorrow at Grech’s loss. 

“It is always shocking to lose a life. But to lose a colleague while at the workplace is too hard. Our sincere condolences to his family, we are very sorry for their loss,” the group said in a statement.

Joseph Grech during a religious procession. Photo: Bernard Busuttil/Facebook

Maria Campbell, a former colleague of Grech’s, also recalled his passion for helping others through his profession. 

“It's with a broken heart that I must remember our dear Joseph,” she said. 

“Joseph, in the five years that I spent working at the most critical place in the hospital, you worked far harder than I did.

"We needed an irreplaceable person like you to help us do our hard work, not only physically, but also morally, and with your manners and character you never failed to make everyone love you.”

One of Grech’s friends, Bernard Busuttil, said there must have been a “crisis in heaven” for the community to have lost him. 

He said his long-time friend was synonymous with “singing, noise, laughter and the Immaculate Conception”. 

“I don’t know what the urgency was to call you up, but there certainly must have been a crisis in heaven if the cost is what we down here are left feeling,” he said. 

“You were used to crises - actually, you thrived in them - both through your work in the ITU and your very beautiful qualities. A heart of gold, a head of stone, a will of steel, wide and divine faith and a social consciousness that you truly no longer find,” Busuttil continued. 

“You were a friend to all, you stood with the suffering, you were a source of solace and joy.”