THE discovery of human bones has created fear in a rural community in Namosi.
The bones were discovered on Tuesday this week at an isolated area at Vunisoco, about a kilometre past Naboro towards Navua.
The homes are close to the Queens Rd but as one goes inland on the feeder road, the homes are scattered and the area has thick with vegetation.
Landowner Adriu Rasebu, speaking in the iTaukei language, said the discovery had frightened people so much that they would not venture out into the bush alone.
He said this was the first time such an incident happened in the quiet area.
While police investigate the case, the 56-year-old man who found the bones had asked that his identity be withheld.
He said at 8am, his wife asked him to pick some ota (edible fern) after returning from putting his fishing net out at sea, which was about 45-minute walk from his home.
He said he followed the track that led to the pine forests and thick shrubs but saw an unusual track, which he followed to go to the ota patch.
The track, he said, came to an opening where the grass on either side was dead.
"I took a few steps forward and saw bones," the man said.
"When I realised that it was a human skull and a rib cage, I was so scared that I ran from there," he said.
"I returned home and told my wife and two of her cousins accompanied me up to the area.
"They found the bones for the lower half of the body behind a tree and in front of the area where the ota grows."
The man's wife said they called the police who came to take the bones and also questioned residents in the areas on any missing relatives.
"The police said the body could have been dumped there," the woman said.
Police public relations manager Ana Naisoro had said that police investigations were continuing.