Po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the death of 76-year-old pen­sion­er William Cardiff, whose body was found ly­ing near a drain in Fyz­abad on Thurs­day night.

Cardiff’s death has been deemed un­clas­si­fied, pend­ing a post-mortem ex­am­i­na­tion.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said around 8.45 pm, Cardiff left his Richard­son Street home and went to a near­by bar.

A neigh­bour told po­lice he ap­peared to be in­tox­i­cat­ed.

The neigh­bour said Cardiff ex­it­ed the bar, walk­ing un­steadi­ly around 9.20 pm, and sat on a cul­vert at the road­side. He at­tempt­ed to stand, fell twice, and even­tu­al­ly col­lapsed face down.

Po­lice were called, and Cpl Rag­bir and PC Collins vis­it­ed the scene and found Cardiff ly­ing on his stom­ach, with his head rest­ing on the edge of a con­crete slip­per drain.

Dis­trict Med­ical Of­fi­cer Dr Rati­ram de­clared Cardiff dead at the scene and or­dered the body re­moved to the San Fer­nan­do Mor­tu­ary.

CSI of­fi­cers processed the scene be­fore un­der­tak­ers re­moved Cardiff’s body. In­ves­ti­ga­tions are on­go­ing. —RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA