Woman found dead after apparent heater accident

A woman aged in her 90s was this morning found dead after collapsing outside her Dannevirke home.

Police are investigating the death but are not treating it as suspicious.

They said it seemed the woman had been warming clothes by a gas heater when the dressing gown she was wearing caught alight.

"She appears to have made her way through the house and collapsed on the back step," they said in a statement.

A caregiver found her body shortly before 10am this morning and alerted police.

The fire service was also called to the Waterloo St address but the fire was limited to the dressing gown.

It was either extinguished by the woman or burned itself out, police said.

A police spokesperson said it was still too early to comment on the exact cause of death but the woman was likely to be named later today.

She said the police were continuing their enquiries and have not yet managed to notify the woman's next of kin.