Body of a person discovered on seashore amid Storm Darragh: Police working to establish stays as officers launch probe into ‘unexplained’ dying
Police are working to identify the remains of a man whose body was found on a beach in Dorset amid Storm Darragh.
Dorset Police officers were called to the beach at Worth Mattravers near Swanage after 11am on Sunday after the body of a man was spotted.
Coastguards were also on the scene, close to Chapman’s Pool on the beach in Purbeck, as the body was carried away and taken to a mortuary by paramedics.
A post mortem examination will be carried out over the next few days to determine the man’s cause of death.
The incident is not believed to be suspicious but detectives said they are investigating who the man was and how he ended up on the beach.
Dorset Police said: ‘Officers are investigating the identity of the man and the circumstances surrounding his death, which is currently being treated as unexplained.
‘We received a report at 11.37am today that a body had been found on the beach in the Chapman’s Pool area of Worth Matravers, Swanage.
‘Officers responded alongside HM Coastguard and the ambulance service with a cordon put in place to allow emergency services to respond to the incident.
A man’s body was on Sunday discovered near Chapman’s Pool on the beach in Purbeck
HEREFORD: A woman walks next to flooding on a road after Storm Darragh hit the country
KENSINGTON: Workers carried out their work on Sunday morning as weather warnings were issued across the UK
PENARTH: A view shows a damaged car, after Storm Darragh hit the country in Penarth, Wales
BURNHAM-ON-SEA: A tree narrowly misses a house after being blown over in Storm Darragh on Oxford Street in Burnham-on-Sea
‘The death is being treated as unexplained and the body has been recovered.
‘Inquiries will now take place on behalf of the Dorset coroner to establish the identity of the man and the circumstances surrounding his death.’
The man’s body was found in the wake of Storm Darragh, which hit the area for more than 24 hours over the weekend.
Around 200,000 homes were left without power as gale-force winds damaged buildings, topple trees and tear down power lines.
In England, 15,000 remained without power early Sunday, and 58,000 properties were without power in Wales.
Two men were killed yesterday by falling trees hitting their vehicles. A man in his 40s died after a tree fell onto his car in Lancashire, who was tonight named as Paul Fiddler, a member of the coaching staff at non-league Lytham Town FC.
Tragically another man – a cab driver – was killed when a tree fell and hit his car in Erdington in the West Midlands in the hours that follows. The car’s horn sounded continuously as police battled to rescue the gravely injured man from the vehicle.
Nine cows under a hedge were also killed when a live power cable was blown down on top of them in Cornwall.
The storm also wreaked havoc with traffic as the Prince of Wales Bridge over the River Severn and the nearby Severn Bridge were closed, while kiosks were knocked over on the pier at Llandudno in North Wales.
Sports events across the UK and Ireland were thrown into disarray, including a Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton which was axed over safety fears.
There were more travel warnings issued on Sunday morning, with Great Western Railway announcing would be no services between Plymouth and Penzance and on all Cornish branch lines until at least 4pm.
