Body found in water off B.C. Gulf Island

Nearby Mount Benson is pictured from the shore of Gabriola Island, B.C. (iStock)

Mounties are investigating after a man's body was found and recovered from the ocean off Gabriola Island, east of Nanaimo.

Gabriola Island RCMP officers responded around 2 p.m. Sunday after the body was discovered in the water near Dragon's Lane, on the east side of the island.

Investigators say the man has been identified and is not a resident of the island, but did not provide further information on his age or identity.

"The circumstances around the death are being investigated, however criminality is not suspected," the RCMP detachment said in a statement Tuesday.

The BC Coroners Service is also investigating the death.

The discovery was made approximately eight weeks after human remains were found nearby in the Strait of Georgia between the B.C. mainland and the northern end of Galiano Island.

Those remains, found on the morning of Sept. 2, were transported to Victoria General Hospital for an autopsy to determine the person's identity and cause of death.

The BC Coroners Service is investigating that case and is working with RCMP missing persons investigators to identify the remains.