Homicide police probe after man's body in Melbourne's south-east
The discovery of a man's body near a beach in Melbourne's south-east was being treated as suspicious, police at the scene said.
A crime scene has been set up after a passerby found a man's body on a viewing platform on the boardwalk in Chelsea after midday on Tuesday.
Homicide detectives have blocked off the car park at the end of The Beachway, near Avondale Avenue, in front of the boardwalk as well as an area on the beach.
Forensic police are preparing to comb the area looking for clues as more police vans arrived at the scene.
A homicide detective said the deceased man looked to be of Asian appearance.
He said police were yet to rule out if the death was a suicide, but that there were indications that led them to believe it was suspicious.
"There are always reasons why local police call the homicide squad," he said.
The detective said a passerby had found the body and called police.
It is unclear how long the body had been there.
That section of beach in Chelsea is often busy with swimmers and dog walkers from the early hours in the day.
Shocked neighbours have walked down to the area to ask police what happened.
"It’s tragic," said Paul Minehan, a concreter who was working at a home that fronts the car park at around the time the body was found.
"Without knowing the cause, either way it’s a sad thing."
One neighbour called the discovery "surprising", saying the area had become gentrified in recent years.
"You don’t expect that around here," he said.
The man said it was unsettling in the context of Friday’s terrorist attack.
"It’s become the new normal, sadly," he said.
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