John Travolta's teenage son, Jett, died in the Bahamas after apparently suffering a seizure and hitting his head at his family's vacation home, authorities said.

A house caretaker found Jett, 16, unconscious in a bathroom late yesterday morning.

He was taken by ambulance to a Freeport hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Police Supt Basil Rahming said in a statement.

The teenager had last been seen entering the bathroom on Thursday and had a history of seizures, according to the statement. A post-mortem is planned.

Jett apparently hit his head on the bathtub, said a police officer.

Jett was the oldest child of Travolta, 54, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 46, who also have an eight-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.

Preston and Travolta have said that Jett became very sick when he was two years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, an illness that leads to inflammation of the blood vessels in young children.

She blamed household cleaners and fertilizers, and said that a detoxification programme based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine. Both Travolta and Preston are practicing Scientologists.

"I was obsessive about his space being cleaned. We constantly had the carpets cleaned," Travolta said in a 2001 interview with CNN's Larry King, a portion of which was rebroadcast on the Larry King Live show Friday night. During that interview, when Jett was 9, Travolta spoke of how his son nearly died when he was 2.

It is unclear whether Jett was taking any medications for his seizures.

The Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles declined to comment.

Obie Wilchcombe, a parliament member and former tourism minister in the Bahamas, said Travolta "spent a tremendous amount of time with Jett".

"He always brought him along. There was a close affectionate relationship and lots of love," Mr Wilchcombe told Larry King Live in a live telephone interview. "People in the old Bahama community today are in shock."

Mr Wilchcombe said a post-mortem was scheduled for Monday and that "we expect a quick resolution".

"John spoke with the minister of health and the doctors and police are at the hospital. They're very, very quick to resolve things," he said.