Christchurch police are still treating the death of a man in Sydenham on Sunday afternoon as unexplained.

Emergency services found the man at a property on Milton St at 12.30pm but he could not be revived.

Police said a post-mortem examination on Tuesday should help them determine their next steps.

“CPR was commenced prior to the arrival of emergency services, however, the man could not be revived,” Detective Senior Sergeant Dan Overend said.

“The death is currently being treated as unexplained, and inquiries are underway on behalf of the coroner to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

The incident took place just 100m away from the scene of a police operation in 1996, which saw an escaped prisoner hide from police in a small wooden cottage on nearby Browning St.

Carl Shane Rolander, 29, escaped Paparoa Prison in Christchurch on Thursday, February 8, 1996.

Rolander was serving a nine-and-a-half-year sentence for kidnapping and assaulting a supermarket manager on March 16, 1992.

The Christchurch District Court issued a warrant for his arrest on February 6, 1996. Two weeks later, police learnt Rolander was armed and hiding in the Browning St house.

The Armed Offenders Squad tried to persuade him to surrender but Rolander took his own life.

A neighbour spoken to by the NZ Herald recalled hunkering down inside her home during the Browning St incident while three AOS officers set up “in our front yard”.

She told the Herald she could not recall there being a significant police presence in the neighbourhood since that incident.

Meanwhile, another police tent had been erected at the Milton St scene on Tuesday.

Police did not believe there was any risk to the public but the property remains cordoned off.

- RNZ and Allied Media