Elderly woman found dead in Tampines flat after neighbours call police

An elderly woman was found dead in her HDB flat on Wednesday (Oct 23) evening, after neighbours found food left outside her door for two days.

The woman, believed to be in her 70s, lived alone in her three-room unit located on the third floor of Block 108, Tampines Street 11, reported Shin Min Daily News on Thursday.

According to the Chinese evening daily, the incident occurred at about 6pm, with police finding the elderly woman dead in her home upon their arrival.

Based on the foul odour emanating from the unit, it is believed that the woman had been deceased for several days.

A neighbour told Shin Min that the last time she saw the deceased was on Sunday, as the latter was taking the lift down from her floor. She had seemed well then.

While there was no sign of the elderly woman on Monday, the neighbour saw that there was a bag of food hanging at her door.

According to her, the elderly woman would usually have food delivered to her daily by another resident in the estate.

The neighbour, a 59-year-old homemaker, told Shin Min that her suspicions were raised when she saw the same bag of food still outside the unit on Tuesday, but did not investigate further.

It was only on Wednesday that neighbours grew worried after visiting the woman's unit where they detected the foul odour and alerted the police.

Describing the woman as someone who cared for others, the neighbour added: "We got along very well for many years. We are all very sad that she is gone so suddenly."

Another neighbour told Shin Min that the deceased had been living alone for many years and did not appear to have any visitors during the holidays or festive seasons.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com