Police seeking help to identify a man found dead in the Maroochy River on the Sunshine Coast

No ID, no missing person’s report: police seek public help to identify a mystery man found dead in the Maroochy River on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

He was dragged lifeless from a busy river five minutes from the Sunshine Coast airport – a ­middle-aged man wearing black clothes and compression bandages on both knees.

He had no identification, wallet or phone in the pockets of his shorts.

No car was found nearby, and nothing that gave clues to his identity was found in his abandoned backpack when it was picked up from the edge of the Maroochy River, where his body was found at 8.30am on Thursday, November 30.

An autopsy did not reveal his cause of death, and found no injuries or natural causes that could have led to his death. He had likely been dead for some time but no one had reported him missing.

Police who worked their way backwards from the river found images of him on CCTV buying items from a shopping centre.

He paid with cash, again giving no clues as to his identity.

So who is the mystery man and how did he end up under the Sunshine Motorway bridge almost two weeks ago?

Police have now released that CCTV vision from November 27, likely captured just a few hours before he died.

He is wearing the same black clothes and compression bandages, pulling items out of his backpack and digging through a handful of gold coins.

He is alone, a factor that has led police to revise an initial belief his death was likely suspicious.

“Our investigations have led us to secure some CCTV from a local business here on the Sunshine Coast which is of reasonably good quality,’’ Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield from Maroochydore police said.

“It’s taken us some time to arrive at that ability to get that CCTV through backtracking where our deceased was located.

“What we are hoping is that someone can identify him from this footage. We’ve ruled out any third-party involvement. We are just investigating the death of a poor man who has ended up in a river at Maroochydore.’’

A comfit of the man found dead in the Maroochy River on the Sunshine Coast on November 30. Picture: Queensland Police

The discovery of the man’s body in a busy part of the river used by rowers and boaties, and traversed by tens of thousands of cars on the bridge each day, has generated intense interest on the Sunshine Coast, where locals have flooded social media trying to identify him.

The CCTV was captured about 4pm on November 27 and the was found on the morning of the 30th – about 64 hours later.

Sergeant Mansfield said it was “quite likely’’ he ended up in the river on the same day he was seen on CCTV.

He is tall – 189cms – aged in his 40s, caucasian, with reddish-brown hair cut short. He has had surgery on his right knee.

He is wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts with a silver stripe, and in the CCTV vision, he is wearing sneakers, and a watch or fitness tracker on his left wrist.

He does not fit the description of any local missing person, and Sergeant Mansfield said he was potentially from interstate or even overseas.

Police divers are searching an area of the Maroochy River, near Bradman Av in Maroochydore, where a man's body was found last week. Picture: Letea Cavander

“We are really relying on someone identifying him through this footage to be able to put those pieces together,’’ he said.

“We visited numerous stores on the Sunshine Coast and elsewhere to try to identify where his clothing might have been purchased from …. plus the CCTV backtracking in timeframes.

“It’s really been a needle in a haystack but fortunately we have been able to identify this footage.

“We just need to identify this man and (then we can) alert his family.’’