Man falls to his death from Tate Modern gallery in London

01/05

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Police guard the body of a man who fell from the sixth floor balcony of the Members Room in the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. The body has had blue tarpaulin placed over it. Police prepare a screen to shield the body ready for removal.

02/05

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Police guard the body of a man who fell from the 6th floor balcony of the Members Room in the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. The body has blue tarpaulin placed over it. The balcony is at the top of frame directly above the body.

03/05

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04/05

Caption

Police guard the body of a man who fell from the sixth floor balcony of the Members Room in the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. The body has had blue tarpaulin placed over it.

05/05

Caption

Police guard the body of a man who fell from the sixth floor balcony of the Members Room in the Tate Modern on London's South Bank.

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A man has fallen to his death from the balcony of the Members Room of the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. The man fell from the sixth floor to the ground below at approximately 6 p.M.

A man has fallen to his death from the balcony of the Members Room of the Tate Modern on London's South Bank.

The man fell from the sixth floor to the ground below at around 6pm on Tuesday evening.

The tragic accident - the cause of which is yet to be explained - shocked many visitors to the world famous art gallery which is a popular tourist attraction and holds works by Warhol and Picasso amongst others. The area was busy with tourists, many of whom are in London to watch the Olympic Games.

One Twitter user, @CathHannahx said: "Seeing the guy who had committed suicide and jumped off the Tate modern has been the most traumatic thing I have seen."

A Metropolitan Police Spokesperson said: "Police were called at approx. 17:55hrs on Tuesday 24 July to the Tate Modern following reports of a man fallen".

"Officers and LAS [London Ambulance Service] attended. The man, believed to be in his late 40s, was pronounced dead at 18:08 hrs.

"Officers believe they know the man's identity but await formal identification. Next of kin are yet to be informed.

"A post-mortem examination will be held in due course."