Driver's Body Found Near St Mary’s Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, After Car Overturns

The death is being treated as 'unexplained'.

A driver has died after a car overturned on a causeway to a popular lighthouse.

Officers were called to the path out to St Mary’s Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, shortly after 7am after a member of the public spotted the vehicle.

Northumbria Police said officers attended and found a blue vehicle on its roof.

A car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay.
A car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay.
Owen Hmphreys/PA Wire

A spokesman said: “There was a man in the vehicle but he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.”

The driver’s next of kin have yet to be informed and the body has not been formally identified.

A car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside following the accident where the driver died.
A car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, North Tyneside following the accident where the driver died.
Owen Hmphreys/PA Wire

Officers are investigating how the vehicle got on to the causeway and are treating the death as “unexplained”.

The short causeway out to the rocky island and its lighthouse is submerged at high tide.

It is a popular walk for locals and visitors to Whitley Bay.

Coastguard in attendance as a car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay.
Coastguard in attendance as a car on its roof lies on the causeway at St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay.
Owen Hmphreys/PA Wire

Anyone who saw a vehicle being driven suspiciously earlier on Tuesday is asked to call 101.

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