Police and firefighters recovered the dead body of an adult male in the Red River close to The Chief Peguis Bridge in Winnipeg. The corpse appeared to be partially wrapped in duct tape. (QMI Agency)

WINNIPEG – The body of an adult man whose legs appeared to have been tied up with duct tape was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg Saturday.

Const. Jason Michalyshen confirmed officers recovered a man's body, which had initially been seen floating in the river by a boater around 10:15 a.m.

Michalyshen would not confirm whether there were any signs of foul play on the body, or whether the man's death was being treated as suspicious or as a homicide.

However, as emergency workers moved the body from a boat onto a stretcher on shore, the man's legs could clearly be seen and appeared to be bound with silver-coloured utility tape.

Michalyshen would not confirm whether that was, indeed, the case.

"This investigation is in its early stages, therefore the circumstances, including the identity of the male, have not yet been determined," he said.

Emergency crews used a fire rescue boat to recover the body shortly after the boater noticed it Saturday morning.

Then, about 1:30 p.m., a team of police, firefighters and mortuary workers pulled the body from the docked boat on the east shore of the water, almost directly across the river from the Hells Angels' Scotia Street clubhouse recently seized by justice officials earlier this summer.

There is no indication the death is gang related.

Once the body had been pulled ashore, the workers zipped it into a body bag, stretchered it up the riverbank and loaded it into a waiting mortuary van, as a few curious residents of the nearby high-rise apartment blocks looked on.