Burning body found under I-76 overpass at Passyunk Avenue

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Several drivers on I-76 eastbound called 911 overnight after they saw a fire burning under the Passyunk Avenue overpass.

Firefighters arrived just before 2:30am and put out the fire, but then found a burned body found on a mattress, under the bridge. It was on a 20-foot embankment, near a highway entrance ramp leading to the Walt Whitman Bridge, and the charred area is now considered a crime scene.

The body was so burned that the fire marshal's preliminary look, before an autopsy scheduled for later, shows no obvious signs of trauma, so they don't know how the victim died. The body was fully clothed.

Police also told FOX 29's Steve Keeley they think the victim was a woman.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has its accelerant-sniffing dog Chase out there, but the canine could not pick up a gasoline scent so they don't know how the fire was set.

Keeley reports the area is used by many homeless people for sleeping, but there should not have been a fire because of the warm temperature.

Authorities took the body and mattress away.