Tributes have been paid to a father-of-one who died in a motorbike crash a week before his 43rd birthday.

Steven Sargant died when his Kawasaki 7300 was involved in a collision with a Ford Transit van in Gudja at 10am on Wednesday.

He was given first aid by a medical team that arrived on site but was declared dead upon arrival at Mater Dei Hospital.

Heartbroken friends and colleagues took to social media to pay tribute the man described as a "great friend and gentleman".

One friend, Anthony Pisani, wrote: "I can still remember your first day at work and all the funny moments when dealing with clients.

"You will be missed by all," he said.  

A senior manager at communications company GO, shocked colleagues shared pictures with him and tributes as the news of his death spread on Wednesday. He was due to celebrate his birthday on February 11. 

One described him as a "great colleague", while others sent their condolences to his family. 

A statement on GO's Facebook page said staff at the company were "absolutely devastated". 

"Steven’s passing is such a great loss, on so many levels. He was a positive force to reckon with, who always sought ways of making the best out of every situation," it said. 

The statement said that customers always came first to the engineer, who was the brains behind the company's True Fibre coverage. 

"Whenever there was a service outage, he was the first one to be in the trenches with his team obsessing over how to get our customers back online," it continued. 

"He was a natural teacher who was passionate about teaching others and passing on his expertise."

The condition of the 62-year-old van driver is unknown.

Police said they are continuing to investigate the accident on Tarxien Road and duty magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit is investigating.  She appointed court experts to assist in the magisterial inquiry. Police investigations are ongoing.