Police investigating after floating body pulled from canal in Phoenix

A body was found in a canal near 24th Street and Bethany Home Road in Phoenix on Friday morning.

First responders answered a call about a water rescue in the Arizona Canal around 7:30 a.m., according to the Phoenix Fire Department.

“SRP called us shortly after 7 a.m.,” said Sgt. John Buchannan with the Phoenix Police Department. “One of their employees noticed what they thought was a body floating in the canal when they were doing some work on one of their gates. They called us.”

Buchannan said investigators currently don’t know how or where the man fell into the water.

“Obviously, these canals flow,” he explained. “It’s difficult to tell at this time where this individual may have fallen into the canal at or what may have led up to this.”

He said the cause of death has not yet been determined.

“The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner, they generally come out in instances such as this one and take custody of the body and then they do their own separate investigation and determine the cause and manner of death,” he said.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Kellen Shover contributed to this report.

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