A lifeless body of a young man was found near the western end of Lunga bridge east of Honiara on Monday morning.
The dead body was discovered by locals lying in between the tall grasses, ten to twenty meters from the bridge.
The finding has shocked residents around the Lunga, Burns Creek area and the public as to what had happened and caused the death of the young man.
Police forensic officers were called in and later transported the body to the national referral hospital (NRH) morgue for further medical examination into the cause of death.
A very close friend whom the deceased lived with told this paper, the young man left on Sunday morning and did not return until the time he received a call to go up at Lunga to identify the body.
Dominic Nongali said he was saddened to receive the call to identify and confirm it was his best mate.
The deceased was a young man in his early twenties who lived with Mr Nongali at the Ranadi refrigeration area.
His was from west Russell in the Central Island province and was a security officer working for the A-Team security firm.
One of his work colleagues said on that Sunday morning they went on a picnic organised by their company at one of the beaches, west of Honiara.
On their return the deceased who was supposed to drop off at his area, decide to follow some of his other colleagues to one of the areas at the Cross Road, near Sun Valley and have fun drinking with his mates.
It was reported the deceased slept for a little while, when he woke up at around 4-5 pm he told his mates he wants to go and look for his mobile phone.
“We don’t know where he went because he never told us where he was going. The only thing he said was he wants to go and get his mobile phone.
“So we were shocked when we heard that his body was found dead near the Lunga bridge,” one of the A-Team security firm members said.
The cause of death is still unknown as police is now investigating the matter.
Police forensics said the deceased was believed to have been killed somewhere and dumped near the bridge.
“There is no sign of any stab wounds or open cut to his body except that there are bruises to his facial and shoulders.
“All we can say at this stage is, this is a suspicious death. But we will wait for the autopsy result to know the actually cause of death,” a senior forensic officer said.
Police said no suspects have yet been apprehended but added that investigations into the suspicious death is continuing.
Its believed the body was dumped there in the early hours of yesterday morning since the corpse was still fresh.
Police said the deceased must have been killed somewhere before his body was dumped there as there is no physical indication the deceased was killed where he was found.
Unconfirmed reports stated that those people doing their market at Lunga spotted a car between 3.30 and 4.30am yesterday that parked near the bridge which they believed must have been connected to the killing.
Meanwhile police is calling on the public to provide any information that could assist them with their investigations.
Doctors will do an autopsy of the body today to know the cause of the death.
The death body is expected to be transported back to the deceased’s home village at Maraloun in West Russell.
BY DANIEL NAMOSUAIA
