A person is dead after an early morning fire destroyed a remote cottage southeast of Havelock North today.
The fire was reported by a neighbour at 12.49am and the building was burnt to the ground by the time the first crew arrived from the Havelock North Volunteer Fire Brigade.
A person at the scene alerted firefighters and police to the possibility that someone had been inside, but it was not until after 9am that a body was found.
Detective Sergeant David De Lange, of Hastings CIB, said inquiries would continue during the day in an attempt to establish the identity of the deceased and whether there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire.
The occupants of the cottage, about 13km from Havelock North, were not thought to have been home and police were investigating reports that another family member was staying there.
Havelock North brigade senior station officer Rod Triplow, who was in the first crew to arrive, said the glow from the fire could be seen from a distance, but the cottage, about 500m up a dirt track, could not.
"It was on the ground by the time we got there," he said.
- NZPA
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