Victoria police are investigating the death of a man who was found seriously injured in a garbage truck Wednesday morning.

Officers were called to a small downtown parking lot at Yates and Vancouver streets at about 6:00 a.m. PT. and found a man inside the box of a commercial garbage truck.

He was taken to hospital and died from his injuries, said police spokesman Bowen Osoko.

"Likely [he] was in a dumpster that had been picked up," said Osoko.

"The truck is quite tall, and it'd be very challenging for someone to climb up on top of it."

Police aren't treating the death as a criminal matter, he said.

They have identified the man but have not yet notified his next of kin.

With files from Liz McArthur