Former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Seymour Arthur is dead.

He was 70-years-old.

A brief government statement has confirmed Mr. Arthur died during the early hours this morning.

It said Mr. Arthur, the longest serving head of government, died at 12.26 am.

Mr. Arthur had been hospitalised earlier this month at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after suffering heart related complications.

Mr. Arthur served as Prime Minister on 3 occasions between September 1994 to January 2008.