KEY POINTS:
Mystery surrounds the identity of a body found floating in a river, dressed in hunting gear.
The man, believed to be in his 50s, was found lying in the Mangawhero Stream, in the Urewera National Park, early yesterday morning.
Police say the death is not suspicious and may have been caused by a medical condition.
A pair of hunters alerted Rotorua police after stumbling across the body in the Horomanga catchment around 1am.
Detective Sergeant John Wilson led the search-and-rescue mission that recovered the body mid-afternoon. CIB staff examined the scene and Wilson said there were no suspicious circumstances "at this stage". Police had yet to identify the body.
Senior Sergeant Anna Jackson, of Rotorua police, said the man appeared to have suffered from a medical condition and had fallen into the stream.
The Horomanga River, which flows near the Galatea and Murupara communities, is used by fishing enthusiasts and hunters as an entry point into the surrounding valley.
Local guide Graham Pyatt describes the river as friendly, slow-moving and fairly shallow.
"It is not a river you should really get into trouble in," he said.
