Stall assistant 'lying down' at Bukit Merah hawker centre found dead

A 49-year-old man was pronounced dead on Saturday morning (April 15) at a stall selling frozen and chilled food products at the Bukit Merah View Market and Hawker Centre.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the man was a stall assistant and was found lying down in the stall.

Both the stall owner and then a friend failed to rouse him at about 6am, with the friend reportedly performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the stall assistant.

Madam Lim, who sells fish at the market, told the Chinese-language daily that she had seen the stall assistant lying down in the stall when she opened her own stall for business at about 3am.

The 70-year-old said that the owner of the frozen and chilled food products stall arrived at about 6am. "I saw the stall owner nudging his assistant's hand a few times, but there was no response from the latter," she added.

Madam Lim said a friend then arrived and performed CPR, but there was no response from the stall assistant.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call for assistance at about 6.35am. One of its paramedics pronounced a man dead at the scene.

The police said they were alerted to a case of unnatural death at Block 115 Bukit Merah View, at 6.33am.

"Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play. Police investigations are ongoing," they added.

In a separate case, a 56-year-old man was pronounced dead at the North Bridge Road Market and Food Centre in March, some 12 hours after he was first spotted and assumed to be sleeping at one of the tables there.

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This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.