Rescue teams unable to recover floating body at Muriwai Beach

A body was spotted at Muriwai Beach in Auckland but emergency services were defeated by the heavy seas and failed to recover it. Photo / File

Search efforts are continuing at Muriwai Beach to recover a body found floating off Muriwai Beach in West Auckland this morning.

Police Land Search and Rescue staff have been conducting shoreline searches throughout the day.

The Police Eagle helicopter has also done aerial searches as has the Coastguard's Air Patrol.

Kumeu Police will be conducting a patrol along the beach this evening at low tide.

Search efforts for tomorrow will be assessed this evening.

A member of the public called police about 9.25am after finding the body by the water close to an area known as the Temple, police said.

A rescue team including police and firefighters had earlier been battling heavy seas in their attempts to recover the body and were eventually forced to wait for conditions including the tide to change.

However, those changes never came, a police spokeswoman said.

"Unfortunately rough conditions meant the body wasn't able to be recovered this afternoon," she said.

Search and rescue teams and the police helicopter would resume their search in the morning.

The circumstances of how the body came to be there were not yet clear. The closest road to the scene was Waitea Rd.

A reporter at the scene earlier today said several fire trucks had attended.