More human remains have been discovered during a police search of a South Canterbury beach.

Search and rescue personnel are combing the beach, at the end of Aorangi Rd near Washdyke, after the discovery of detached leg bones and a foot in a boot on Wednesday.

Police have confirmed they are not treating the death as suspicious.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ Police and Search and Rescue personnel search the beach near Aorangi Road after a human leg bone was found.

Mid/South Canterbury Area Commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said more human remains were discovered on the beach on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Washed up bone could be human

He could not confirm the specific nature of the remains, but said they were being taken to Christchurch where an autopsy would be completed.

John Bisset/FairfaxNZ Police search South Canterbury beach after a human leg bone discovered

"We're treating this as an unexplained death, rather than anything sinister," he said.

A member of the public found the remains and handed them into the Timaru police station on Wednesday.

While people would usually call police to the scene in similar situations, Gaskin said people had handed in body parts to the station in the past.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ A search is carried out on the beach near Aorangi Rd where a human leg was found.

The grisly discovery comes weeks after South Canterbury man Darryl McNee, 44, was reported missing.

McNee's Mazda 323 station wagon was found at the end of Connolly Road, Seadown, on May 1. A search of the area surrounding his vehicle and along the beach had not found any sign of him.

Gaskin could not confirm if police believed the remains belonged to McNee.

Detective Senior Sergeant Richard Quested said McNee's case was still an open file.

"We're still obviously trying to find him and trying to find out what happened to him."

Gaskin said he was only aware of one missing person case in the area in recent times. There were about 70 open missing person cases in South Canterbury in total. Many of those were related to the Mount Cook area, while several fishermen had also gone missing at sea over the years, he said.

"We're keeping an open mind."

A late autumnal weather pattern has lashed the South Canterbury coastline with heavy swells over the past 10 days.

Quested said it was unclear if the weather had contributed to the remains being washed up on the beach, but that was one possibility that was being looked at.