UPDATE: No formal identification in Holbeach Fen caravan death tragedy

A police spokesman said this morning: “‘Investigations into fatal fires are difficult and complex cases and it can often take some time for all forensic tests and identification procedures to be completed.”

MONDAY, 10.45AM: Police have launched an investigation to find out why a man of 33 perished in a caravan fire on Sunday morning.

Fire crews from Spalding, Long Sutton and Boston were alerted to the blaze shortly before 9.45am – and firefighters in turn told police half-an-hour later they had found a man’s body within the caravan.

A dog also died.

The man has not been formally identified, but police described him as “a local man who recently moved into the caravan”.

Police said yesterday (Monday): “We are working to confirm his identity and to inform family and friends.

“A postmortem examination will be conducted later today.

“We are treating the cause of the fire as unexplained and are working with the Fire and Rescue Service to establish what happened.”

Police have issued an appeal for anyone who knows anything about the fire to come forward.

The tragedy unfolded at the Heron’s Cottage Camping and Caravanning site on Frostley Gate, some four miles from Holbeach on the B1165 road between Whaplode St Catherine and Sutton St James.

There are two caravan parks on Frostley Gate.

A man on the Heron Orchard Holiday Park site, on the opposite side of the road, said thick black smoke could be seen from his site for about 15 minutes.

He understood the man who died had moved to the Heron’s Cottage site only about a week ago.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said the last of its fire engines left the scene at about 4.17pm.

Firefighters wore breathing apparatus and used two hose reel jets to extinguish the blaze.

• Anyone with information on the fire is asked to called police on 101, quoting incident 126 of March 13.