A ship that sank 112 years ago bearing bodies of 499 Chinese miners has been discovered near Hokianga Harbour, New Zealand.

However, there has been outrage within the country's Chinese community with some people claiming it to be disrespectful, according to the New Zealand Herald.

These miners, some in wooden coffins and others in sealed zinc caskets, had died during New Zealand's gold rush.

They had paid in advance to ensure their bodies would go back to China, no matter what.

But the ship S.S. Ventnor sank off the northern New Zealand coast shortly after it left a Wellington port.

The wreck was found by a team led by John Albert, an amateur New Zealand filmmaker who said he might make a documentary out of the Ventnor's story.

But the Chinese community have released a statement via the New Zealand Chinese Association saying they were outraged that the ship had been disturbed.

The Chinese community said they wished the shipwreck had been left untouched and treated as a graveyard.

Kirsten Wong from the association said there was "genuine dismay felt across the NZ Chinese early settler community for the lack of respect being shown towards their ancestral remains and the disregard for the communities - Chinese and Maori - whose story it is".

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