A woman has described the shocking moment she found a body of a man floating in the River Waveney while she was walking her dogs.

Eastern Daily Press: Emergency services were called to Riverside Place at Wortham Ling, near Diss, after a man walking her dogs saw a body in the River Waveney. Picture: Simon ParkinEmergency services were called to Riverside Place at Wortham Ling, near Diss, after a man walking her dogs saw a body in the River Waveney. Picture: Simon Parkin (Image: Archant)

The death of the man, aged in his 30s, who was discovered in a stretch of the river close to Wortham Ling, near Diss, is being treated as unexplained.

Emergency services were called to Riverside Place on Ling Road at 1.10pm on November 26 after a local resident discovered his body in the water.

The woman, who preferred not to be named, said she had been walking her two Hungarian Vizsla dogs on the river bank when she had spotted the man lying in the water.

Eastern Daily Press: Emergency services at the scene after a body was found in River Waveney near Diss. Picture: Simon ParkinEmergency services at the scene after a body was found in River Waveney near Diss. Picture: Simon Parkin (Image: Archant)

She said: "I often walk the dogs by the river and they started behaving funny and that is when I saw the body. The water is not that deep, probably about 5ft, though the river banks are about 15ft.

"It was not a pleasant thing and I was certainly surprised but I wasn't frightened because he couldn't harm me. I phoned my husband, because I wasn't sure if I had just imagined it, but he went down and saw him too. We called the police and there was a huge amount of activity."

Wortham Ling, an area of heathland on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, stands alongside the river and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest that is popular with walkers and people with dogs.

Eastern Daily Press: The River Waveney close to where a body was found at Wortham Ling, near Diss. Picture: Simon ParkinThe River Waveney close to where a body was found at Wortham Ling, near Diss. Picture: Simon Parkin (Image: Archant)

Riverside Place neighbour Mary Potter said: "There is a footpath from Roydon down to the others side of the river and we often see people walking their dogs along there. However we have not seen anything unusual in the last few days.

"It is an awful thing to have happened. It is just shocking and so sad for his family."

A spokesman for Norfolk Police said the death was being treated as unexplained but not suspicious. "A file is being prepared for the coroner pending a full inquest," the added.