The headless body of a woman has been found in the Baltic Sea near where a missing Swedish journalist is believed to have died on a privately built submarine.

A female torso without legs, arms or a head was found by a passer-by, said the head of the Danish police investigation, Jens Moller Jensen.

“We have recovered the body … It is the torso of a woman,” Jensen told reporters. “An inquest will be conducted.”

He said it was “too early” to say if the body was that of 30-year-old Swedish reporter Kim Wall, who went missing more than a week ago after a trip on the submarine owned by 46-year-old Peter Madsen, a Danish inventor.

Jensen said the body was discovered hours after Madsen told authorities that Wall had died onboard in an accident, and that he buried her at sea at an unspecified location.

Madsen was arrested in connection with Wall’s disappearance after his submarine sank off Denmark’s eastern coast, an event police suspect the inventor caused on purpose.

He denied any wrongdoing and initially told authorities he had dropped the reporter off on a redeveloped island in Copenhagen’s harbour about 3 hours into a night time trip August 10.

Madsen will continue to be held on preliminary manslaughter charges, police said. They declined to provide further details about the new information he had provided.

Madsen was known for financing his submarine project through crowdfunding. The first launch of his 40-tonne, nearly 18-metre-long UC3 Nautilus in 2008 made international headlines.

Wall’s family earlier told The Associated Press that she had worked in many dangerous places as a journalist and it was unimaginable “something could happen … just a few miles from the childhood home”.

Before his arrest, Madsen appeared on Danish television to discuss the submarine’s sinking and his rescue.

It was the journalist’s boyfriend who alerted authorities that the sub had not returned from a test run, police said.

My friend Kim Wall has gone missing on Friday in Copenhagen. If you have any info please contact Danish police. https://t.co/SUv0N3JjHY pic.twitter.com/3e9ScqX6W4

— Marie Telling (@MarieTelling) August 11, 2017

Wall’s family earlier told The Associated Press that she had worked in many dangerous places as a journalist and it was unimaginable “something could happen … just a few miles from the childhood home”.

Before his arrest, Madsen appeared on Danish television to discuss the submarine’s sinking and his rescue.

It was the journalist’s boyfriend who alerted authorities that the sub had not returned from a test run, police said.

– AP