Police call off harbour search for body seen in net

The case of a woman's body spotted by fishermen in a net in Auckland's Manukau Harbour on Sunday could remain an unsolved mystery, police said today.

Police divers have failed to locate the body in the murky waters off Waikowhai Bay and Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Gutry said the search was being called off.

"By the end of today, we will be in a position where we will have covered the area indicated by the fishermen," he said.

"We are reasonably satisfied now that we are not going to find anything."

Mr Gutry said there were 17 divers in the water today and navy sonar equipment was also used. Various objects had been recovered but not a body.

The fishermen reported seeing the net containing the body and weighted down by rocks as it was hooked on the anchor they were hauling in.

During their shock at seeing a human head, the net fell back into the water, sinking straight back down.

Mr Gutry said one possibility was that the fishermen might have been mistaken in what they saw.

Another was that they might have dislodged the body when bringing it to the surface and the current had then swept it to a different location in the harbour.

He could not say which of those scenarios was the more likely, adding that police were unable to link any missing person to the case.

"It's one of those things that we may never answer unless we find what we're looking for."

- NZPA