The headless body of a man has been found at a hotel in Sapporo City in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido. Police suspect the head was carried away by another person who entered the room with the deceased.

Employees discovered the body in the bathroom of a second-floor room at the hotel in the Susukino entertainment district on Sunday afternoon.

Police believe the dead man was an adult, and that the body was beheaded with a cutting tool. The police say there were no items with which to identify the dead man in the room.

Security camera footage indicates that the victim entered the room with another person, and that only that person left the room.

The police have mobilized some 240 officers to search for the person and to determine the cause of the man's death and his identity.