A passer-by has made a chilling discovery at a popular beach in New Zealand – sparking a police investigation.
The person was walking along Petone Beach in Wellington at around 8am on Saturday when they found a human foot inside a shoe, New Zealand Herald reports.
“Police completed a land and water search around the area the shoe was located. Nothing further was located,” NZ Senior Sergeant Steve Williamson said.
“It’s understood the situation is not being treated as a homicide.”
Mr Williamson said formal identification of the foot will take place and police will provide further details as they become available.
Artspace Gallery owner Alfred Memelink saw two boats searching the coastline, one of which he believed to be a Wellington police vessel.
“They were going up and down, sort of like they had a good search pattern backwards and forwards along the beach,” he said.
“It looked like they were scanning for something.
“We usually go for a beach walk every day and for some reason, we didn’t this morning. “What went through my mind was that it easily could have been us who came across it, and it would have been pretty gruesome.”
A Petone resident said he saw five police cars show up with the search going on for about four hours.
“About six people wearing blue overalls arrived, as well as a dog handler,” he said.
“It is very unsettling for the community. We have got old ladies who live just beside us and we are quite worried now, what’s next.”
This story originally appeared on the New Zealand Herald and is republished here with permission