Horrified passers-by saw the body floating in Chichester Canal – which runs through the centre of the city.

Police rushed to the scene at 11am yesterday, cordoned off the area and specialist divers recovered the body an hour-and-a-half later.

The man is believed to be in his 40s and his death is being treated by police as unexplained.

His body was found half-a-mile south of the train station close to Waterside Drive and Grosvenor Road.

It is the second body to be discovered in the canal this year.

In January the body of a 50-year-old man was found. He had died of natural causes.

Sergeant Anna Gent, of Chichester police, said a post-mortem examination would not be carried out until next week.

She added that he man had not been formally identified.

She said: 'At the moment we are treating this death as unexplained.

'We would like to hear from anyone who saw anything unusual in the canal area within the past three days to contact us.'

Anyone with any information is asked to get in touch with Chichester police on 0845 60 70 999.