POLICE are trying to unravel the mystery of a body found beside railway tracks in Bolton.

A train driver spotted the body of a man beside the tracks close to the mouth of a tunnel at 6.20am yesterday. The exact circumstances of his death are not yet known.

Now British Transport Police are trying to identify the man, who is believed to be of Asian or Eastern European descent, and discover what happened in his final hours.

Checks carried out on the missing persons database have proved unsuccessful.

The gruesome discovery, which was made in an area known as Bullfields, close to Moor Lane and Ormrod Street, Bolton, led to the line having to be closed for about three hours.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: “The incident was reported at 6.20am by the driver of the TransPennine Manchester Victoria to Kirkby service who had seen a body by the side of the lines.

“The driver didn’t report hitting the body and it is currently being treated as unexplained. Whether the man was hit by another train we don’t know at this stage.”

Police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.