Yellowknife (June 18/03) - Police have a charred body and a mystery on their hands after a report of a fire outside the city's Yellowknife River bridge pumphouse.

A city worker servicing the pumphouse called the fire department at around 11 a.m. Monday.

"When we got there the situation was a lot different," said fire Chief Mick Beauchamp.

According to sources they found a smouldering body and summoned police. There was no damage to the pumphouse.

RCMP blocked off the road leading to the pumphouse as they searched for clues. Monday evening, they set up a roadblock on the Ingraham Trail, stopping drivers and asking questions.

Sue Heron-Herbert was going from Ndilo to Dettah Monday night and was waited in line at the roadblock for at least 45 minutes.

Her husband was stopped earlier.

"They asked him a bunch of questions, where he was going and all that kind of stuff," she said.

Steve Morin, who lives close by, said he saw helicopters flying over the scene.

Police are treating it as a "suspicious" death, but aren't releasing any details. They say they won't know if the deceased is male or female, until a medical examiner looks at the body.

Police "are making all kinds of inquiries," said RCMP Insp. Paul Richards.

The body was sent to Edmonton for an autopsy, said NWT Chief Coroner Percy Kinney.

"At this point, we don't really know what we have," he said.