Pokemon Go player spots floating corpse near Woodlands jetty

He was out looking for Pokemon on the recently-launched Pokemon Go game yesterday morning.

But what he came across was the body of a woman floating in the water near the jetty he was on.

The Pokemon Go player, who wanted to be known only as Mr Azmi, a webmaster, was at the Woodlands Waterfront Park at about 9am yesterday.

He was initially engrossed in the augmented reality game on his mobile phone, but his attention was soon drawn to the large crowd at the jetty.

He told The New Paper: "I saw people looking at the water so I also looked down and that's when I saw the dead body. I was quite in shock," he said.

HORROR: Mr Azmi was searching for Pokemon at Woodlands Waterfront Park on Sunday morning when he chanced upon the corpse of a woman in the water.

A police spokesman told TNP that they received a call for assistance at about 9.40am. Officers found the body of a woman floating in the water.

Paramedics later retrieved the body and pronounced her dead at the scene. The spokesman said they have classified the case as an unnatural death and are investigating.

The 29-year-old Mr Azmi who has been a Pokemon fan since he was in Secondary 2, also expressed his condolences about the woman, who looked elderly.

"I've read stories about people trespassing, getting robbed, or finding dead bodies while playing Pokemon Go.

"But I didn't think it would happen in Singapore, and to me," he said.

Pokemon Go was released in Singapore on Saturday and its fans have gone into a monster-hunting craze.

The game is available for free on smartphones running iOS or Android, and players have to walk to different locations to try to find more than 100 Pokemon and fulfil the franchise's "catch 'em all" mission - though only one person in the world has been reported to have achieved this so far.

WARNING

Meanwhile, the authorities have warned users to remain safe and not to break the law while playing.

The police in Singapore advised people to play in groups and reminded players not to trespass into restricted or private property.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said players should not play the game while driving, and reminded the public that all its camps and units, including fire stations, are restricted areas and not accessible without clearance.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) also reminded people not to trespass into its airbases and camps to catch Pokemon.

"All intruders, our Force Protection Troopers are gonna catch them all!" the RSAF said in a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post on Saturday.

Last month, 19-year-old teenager Shayla Wiggins came across a man's corpse while trying to capture water Pokemon along the Big Wind River in the US state of Wyoming.

---

"I saw people looking at the water so I also looked down and that's when I saw the dead body."

- A Pokemon Go player, who wanted to be known only as Mr Azmi, on seeing corpse while playing the game