Police are yet to establish what happened to a man whose body was found on Otaki Beach near Levin this morning.
A member of the public found the body about 8am and immediately contacted emergency services.
Detective Inspector Chris Bensemann said the death was being treated as unexplained.
"At this stage we are in the early days of our investigation. There is still a lot of information we don't have and we are working to ascertain what has happened to the man.''
A section of the beach remained cordoned off this afternoon while police and forensic experts conducted a scene examination.
