Body found on Ninety Mile Beach

Police are asking for help in identifying the body of a man, which was discovered on Ninety Mile Beach about 2pm on Sunday (February 13).

The badly decomposed body was found about 7.5km south of the Bluff in shallow water by a member of the public.

A post mortem was conducted in Auckland today in an effort to identify the man and his cause of death.

Despite earlier reports that the man was of Asian or Indian ethnicity, the results of the post mortem were inconclusive in this regard.

The man is described as 1.72m tall with long black hair and of medium build.

He was wearing faded blue denim jeans, one red and white Adidas running shoe and a blue, red and white checked shirt.

It is estimated that the body had been in the water for one to two weeks.

Police are considering whether this man has come from a ship or washed off the beach or rocks, but have not received any reports of such incidents.

If anyone has any information that may help in identifying the man or knows of anyone who is missing that may fit this description, they can contact Houhora Police on 09 409 8822 or Kaitaia Police on 09 408 6500.