Police have confirmed that bones found in scrub in the Far North yesterday are human remains.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Power company workers made the grim discovery yesterday at Taipa in Doubtless Bay.
Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston said Top Energy workers trimming trees under powerlines spotted the bones, as they cleared scrub.
"Some Top Energy guys were clearing tree tops as they do for their powerlines and as they cleared some scrub they came across these remains and did the right thing by calling us immediately," he said.
He said they were definitely human and appear to have been there for some time.
Mr Johnston said Far North police had a number of unsolved missing persons cases on file, and they were following strong leads on the identity of the remains.
"We've got a number of missing persons cases, which we'll bear in mind. We won't speculate publicly as to who we think it might be, that's a question for the coroner, but we've got some good lines of enquiry to follow."
The terrain is challenging, and specialist search and rescue teams are helping police with their work.
Police expect to recover the bones from the Taipa site tomorrow for a post-mortem.