A body that was found in a residential area of Wigan was covered in a mysterious “white powder”, reports say.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police were called to Kilburn Drive, Shevington, at about 7pm on Thursday after the body was discovered.
Police detectives have said they are investigating the discovery of “potentially hazardous substances” found on the body that has lain between two houses, on a path leading to open fields.
The substance was described in reports as a “mysterious white powder” and that the body was emitting smoke when it was found.
One local resident told The Sun: “I was told it was very odd – the body appeared to have smoke coming off it and was covered in white powder.”
Police have delayed removing the body until it’s deemed safe to do so after the discovery of the “white powder”, Wigan Today reported.
It’s not known whether the person was a man or a woman, and identification of the body has yet to be carried out.
Det Supt Alan Clitherow said the identification will be carried out during a Home Office post-mortem examination that would take place in “due course” once the body had been removed from the scene.
The body is currently covered by a white and yellow police tent while murder investigations are taking place.
Mr Clitherow said: “We don’t know what the substance is, we have done some initial inquiries, we know it’s low risk, so anyone directly in contact with the body should seek medical advice if they feel unwell but there’s no wider risk to anyone else.”
He said it was a “challenging set of circumstances” and officers were “unpicking exactly what had gone on”.
Anyone who has had contact with the body has been advised to speak to police or seek medical advice immediately, though no details have been released about what the substance could be.
A cordon which remained in place was contained to Kilburn Drive and there has been no disruption to the wider area, police have said.
Any information should be passed to Greater Manchester Police via LiveChat or by calling 101 quoting incident number 000910 of 25/11/2022.
