A man trying to pose for a photo next to a towering hill of soap suds floating atop a heavily polluted stream in Mexico has been found dead, five days after he fell into the quivering mass and disappeared.

The man apparently had asked a co-worker to snap a picture of him standing next to the suds when he fell in, officials said.

Authorities in the central state of Puebla said excess detergents from homes that drain into streams feeding the Valsequillo reservoir caused the soap bubbles to accumulate.

A man trying to pose for a photo next to a towering hill of soap suds floating atop a heavily polluted stream in Mexico has been found dead. Credit: Facebook/Stand Up for The Atoyac

The streams also carry all sorts of household waste and the toxic brew eventually finds its way into the Atoyac River.

Photos of the attempted rescue Monday showed emergency personnel using fire hoses and a large fan in a failed attempt to penetrate the hill of suds that rose six metres over their heads.

After a full day of work, the local civil defence office said it was barely able to locate the man's compact car. He was not in it, and officials began looking farther downstream.

On Friday, people in the town of Tecamachalco, almost 50 kilometres from where the man fell in, alerted authorities about a body in the stream.

The man apparently had asked a co-worker to snap a picture of him standing next to the suds when he fell in, officials said. Credit: Facebook/Stand Up for The Atoyac

Town officials issued a statement later in the day saying the body had been identified as the man who fell in on Sunday, but did not release his name.

Town spokesman Cristian Medina said that because of the way currents flow, it is not unusual for authorities to find bodies, apparently of crime or accident victims, in the polluted stream during seasonal summer rains.