GIANYAR ~ Residents of Saba Beach, Gianyar, were shocked to discover a decomposed body floating in the water off the beach last Friday, they said.

Fisherman Dewa Made Sharir said he was fishing with two other men when they saw the body floating about five meters from the beach.

“At first I thought it was only a banana-tree trunk, but then we realized that it was a women’s body,” he said.

Sharir said he and his friends used bamboo to retrieve the body from the water and called police.

Blahbatu Police chief Imam Tauhid said based on the skin, fingernails and the shape of the body, they were assuming the woman was Japanese.

“We are still working on the identity of the body,” he said.