KATHMANDU: A 22-year-old Nepali student was found dead on Mount Maunganui beach of New Zealand, local media reported. Local police identified the deceased as Pawan Kumar Khadka, who originally hailed from Kathmandu.

According to stuff.co.nz, a beach walker discovered Khadka's body floating in the surf south-east of Moturiki Island at 6.30am Monday.

He had been living in New Zealand for the past 18 months. and was a student at the National Technology Institute's Tauranga campus until four months ago, the report said.

Police were working to piece together the last movements of Khadka as his clothes were found on the shore but no one saw him entering the water, according to the report.

"We haven't got an idea of what his intentions were and it is part of what we are trying to determine, whether he went in for a swim, or whether he could swim," the report quoted a local police official as saying.

"It is obvious that he drowned but if there is anything else of concern it will be established during the post-mortem. If there is we will take it from there."