Two women found dead on Wellington’s south coast

Police believe they know the identities of two women found dead in the water near a popular Wellington south coast picnic spot today.


But Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Cotter told NZPA investigators were keeping an open mind on the cause of death.


Both the women were from Wellington. One appeared to be aged about 50 and the other appeared to be older .


"We've seized a car that was located nearby and a driver's licence found in that vehicle appears to belong to one of the deceased."


Police were not commenting on the relationship between the women.


A member of the public saw the bodies just offshore about 11am at Princess Bay, next to Houghton Bay, and waded into the water and pulled them both up onto shore, he said.


"They appear to have been in the water for less than 24 hours, that doesn't mean to say they've only been dead for 24 hours ... A post mortem will be conducted tomorrow morning to establish a cause of death, but we're still trying to establish how they came to be in the water."


Police were treating the deaths as suspicious for now, Mr Cotter said.


"We're keeping an open mind on it. There's at least three possibilities that we can think of and all of them are equally likely."


He would not elaborate on those possibilities.


"We have a specialist search group conducting a search on land for any relevant items in the area, and we have the dive squad conducting a search in the water looking for relevant items there as well."


The road around the coast remained closed in the area where the bodies were found while the searches were carried out, he said.


The bodies were taken to the Wellington Hospital mortuary about 3pm ahead of a post mortem examination tomorrow morning.


"We're making inquiries tonight to obviously speak to next-of-kin and establish who these people are for sure," Mr Cotter said.


At 5pm, in bitterly cold conditions, about eight to 10 police could be seen combing a rocky point in small groups near the bay where the bodies were found.


The entrance and exit to the nearby carpark for a popular picnic spot was blocked by police cars. The area where the bodies were found is just five minutes from surf beach Lyall Bay.


- NZPA