POLICE and fire investigators are today trying to establish the cause of a fire which claimed the life of an elderly man.

The man died when a small fire broke out in a chalet at the Sheppey Holiday Village in Warden Bay Road, Leysdown, near Sheerness.

The alarm was raised at about 5.20pm last night by two membes of the public who saw smoke in the holiday home. They managed to break in but the man had already died, apparently of smoke inhalation.

Crews from Sheppey and Eastchurch quickly extinguished the smouldering fire. A spokesman said it was not clear how the fire had started or what had caught alight. The limited air supply in the chalet meant the fire did not take hold.

A police spokesman later confirmed that the fire was not being treated as suspicious. Det Insp Mick Costello said: “No third party is believed to have been involved and at present the man is yet to be formally identified.

"The matter has now been referred to the coroner to further investigate this tragic case.”

It is believed the man was on holiday in Leysdown with his wife and son, who had left the island earlier in the day.