Joanne Ingham – one of the infamous Ingham twins – has died in unexplained circumstances in a Wellington motel.

​Police were called to the Harbour City Motor Inn on Webb St in Te Aro at about 2.40am on Tuesday after a body was found. A scene examination is being carried out by police.

The twins, Joanne and Sarah, made international headlines in 1997 when they stowed away on a Malaysian ship leaving from Tauranga. They were 18 at the time, and originally from Kaiapoi, near Christchurch.

Sarah had fallen in love with sailor Ja'afar bin Mohamed Zan, then 27, and the trio jumped from the ship after the twins were discovered by the captain. They swam 19 kilometres through shark and crocodile-infested waters off Queensland to reach shore and survived for 19 days eating only shellfish.

Sarah and Ja'afar married, and Joanne married his best friend, Hanafi Salleh, in a double Muslim wedding in 1999. Both couples had children.

The twins returned to New Zealand with their children in 2003, while their husbands were believed to have stayed in Malaysia.

The Ingham twins, Sarah in blue and Joanne in red, in Malaysia. Photo: Stuff.

The twins were no strangers to courtrooms after their return. In 2006, Joanne Ingham was convicted of assault for punching a doorman in the stomach and in 2011 she was fined $150 after admitting to walking into a Wellington supermarket and grabbing six packets of tobacco.

Sarah Ingham was charged with disorderly behaviour, resisting police and driving drunk. A warrant was issued for her arrest in 2016 after she failed to appear in court.

• The Ingham twins hit headlines as teens in 1997 after stowing away on a container ship.
• They jumped overboard and swam through shark-infested waters to reach the shore.
• Joanne Ingham was married in a double Muslim wedding, alongside her sister, in 1999.
• The twins have been plagued by legal troubles in the years since.

-Stuff.co.nz