POLICE have launched an investigation after a man died at a business park in Bournemouth in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Officers cordoned off part of the Central Business Park in Southcote Road after the casualty, whose identity is not yet known, died at around 3.45am.

Paramedics contacted police after they were called to reports that a man had gone into cardiac arrest.

The cause of the man's death has not been established, and police are carrying out an investigation into the circumstances.

Yesterday morning, crime scene investigators could be seen working within the cordon. A forensics tent was also put up outside the headquarters of company Pivotal Housing.

The entrance to the Excelsior Coaches and Morebus depot was also blocked by the cordon.

People working in businesses on the site, which lies next to the railway line and close to Knyveton Gardens, spoke of their shock. Several said two homeless people are believed to have been living in large bins on the site for some time.

"It would have been quite a lonely place back here at that time," one said.

"This is a busy site, and there's lots of people coming and going, but it would have been quiet here in the early hours."

Another said: "There have been all sorts of rumours going around, but we don't know much at the moment.

"There has been a problem with rough sleepers coming here to sleep."

Central Business Park also houses organisations including DHS Renewables, Just Cleaning and the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, which has a drug and alcohol treatment facility on the site. 

A spokesperson from Dorset Police said: "At 3.46am on Tuesday, October 16, we received a report from the ambulance service of a man in cardiac arrest at the Central Business Park in Southcote Road, Bournemouth.

"Officers attended and sadly the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The cause of the man’s death has not yet been established and officers are carrying out an investigation into the circumstances. A cordon has been put in place at the scene.

"Enquiries are also ongoing to establish the identity of the man and therefore his next of kin have not yet been informed."