Sembawang resident calls police after seeing flies coming from neighbour's flat
The last time Mr Huang and his family saw their next-door neighbour was on March 23.
On April 4, they detected an odour wafting from the 69-year-old man's flat at 478 Sembawang Drive.
Mr Huang thought nothing of it, assuming it was caused by an issue with cleanliness.
But the smell had grown stronger by the following day and Mr Huang noticed there were flies coming out of his neighbour's flat.
He called his neighbour, who lived alone, to check on him.
"When I heard the phone ringing inside the flat and saw flies flying out, I knew something was wrong, so I called the police," Mr Huang told Shin Min Daily News, adding that he noticed the man's phone and wallet in the living room when he peered into the flat.
The police confirmed a 69-year-old man collapsed in the unit and he was pronounced dead at the scene. They also ruled out any foul play.
Seventy-year-old Zhou, who lives in the unit below the deceased's, said she often saw him exercising in the morning and eating at a nearby coffee shop.
Madam Zhou was upset to learn about the man's death.