A man with no friends or family was found dead in the Manchester Ship Canal... we may never know what happened

Mystery surrounds the death of a man found in the Manchester Ship Canal. Alvin Joseph was pulled from a stretch of the canal in Salford in earlier this year.

A number of questions surrounding the death of the 44-year-old, who had no known friends or family, remain unanswered after a coroner concluded he was unable to say how he ended up in the water. The grim discovery was made on Saturday, May 18.

The canal towpath was cordoned off as Mr Joseph's body was pulled from the water by emergency services. He was declared dead at the scene. He was later identified.

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Mr Joseph was born in Sri Lanka and was originally called Joseph Llwyn Jaganathan, before changing his name to Alvin Joseph after moving to the UK, an inquest into his death was told.

He lived at Cannon Hussey Court, a tower block at Islington Wharf, off Chapel Street in Salford, less than a mile away from where his body was discovered.

Despite a public appeal for information, police were unable to locate his next of kin. Officers were told he had a sister in India but were unable to make contact, Detective Sergeant Andrew Langlands told the hearing.

They also spoke to someone described as a friend, but they said they 'hadn't seen him for a long time'. Mr Joseph was last seen on CCTV in the lift area of his apartment block on May 13, after he used his fob to enter the building. It is not know when he left.

Attempts to further trace his movements by CCTV proved unsuccessful.. The inquest was told Mr Joseph had a number of underlying health conditions including angina, primary biliary cirrhosis and type two diabetes.

Officers