HONG KONG (AFP) - The headless body of a woman dressed in black underwear and a single sock was found floating in Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbour on Tuesday (March 21), according to local media.

The corpse, which was also missing its right hand, was spotted by a boat passenger in the afternoon, multiple reports said.

"At first I thought it was a doll... then I saw that the head and right hand were missing. At that point I realised that it was a corpse," an eyewitness told Apple Daily newspaper.

Police confirmed they had found a woman's body but gave no details of its condition.

"Somebody reported there was something floating and when police arrived they fished out a female corpse," a police spokeswoman told AFP, adding the body was found off the city's Kennedy Town district.

Media reports said the woman was aged between 30 and 40.

"Initial examination showed the body had not started decomposing. It's possible the body had been in the water for less than 24 hours," a police source told the South China Morning Post.

The woman was of Asian descent and possibly Chinese, the source told the Post.