Humans remains have been uncovered during a land search initiated by police after a report led officers to have grave fears for an individual's safety.
Police began the search on Monday, with officers scouring an area around Rangipo Intake Road, located off Desert Road, in the central North Island.
On Tuesday morning, officers discovered human remains buried at a site off Rangipo Intake Road. It's believed the remains have been there for an extended period of time.
The process for preparing the remains to remove off-site is not expected to be completed until Wednesday, police confirmed in a statement.
A post-mortem will then take place. It's expected to take some time before the formal identification process is completed.
Until the remains have been formally identified, police will not be speculating on the possible identity of the deceased.
