THE death of a man whose body was found on Minehead beach early on Wednesday morning is being treated as “unexplained” by police.

Yesterday, (Thursday) Avon and Somerset police issued a description of a man in his 60s and said: “We believe we know who the man is, and have informed his next of kin.”

They have appealed to anyone with information, to come forward.

A police spokesman said: “We were called to the beach at 6.28am on Wednesday after a man’s body was found. The beach was cordoned off for examination by specialist forensic investigators and officers made inquiries in the town to identify the victim. The death is currently being treated as unexplained and efforts to establish the full circumstances of his death are ongoing. A post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

“While formal identification has not yet been carried out, we believe we know who the man is and have informed his next of kin.”

Detective Inspector Rachel Whelan said: “This is a terribly sad incident and our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time. We know very little about how he came to be on the beach but we don’t believe he was in the water for more than 24 hours. If you were on Minehead beach on Tuesday afternoon or evening and saw a man in his 60s wearing a grey hooded top with a black shiny jacket over the top along with grey tracksuit bottoms and white trainers we’d like to hear from you. Pease call 101 and provide the call handler with the reference 5222092940.”