Teen finds dead man in toilet of food centre, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Teen finds dead man in toilet of food centre

This article is more than 12 months old

He was going to take a toilet break from working at his mother's stall at Haig Road Market and Food Centre on Sunday afternoon.

But what greeted Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) national serviceman Hamka Afiq, 19, was a sight he described as "scary".

"When I entered the toilet, I saw a man in his 30s lying on the floor. His skin was bluish purple, and white bubbles and foam were forming on his mouth," Mr Hamka told The New Paper. "I was very shocked, because it was my first time coming into contact with a casualty, and his skin was very blue."

A police spokesman confirmed that they received a call for assistance at the food centre at 5.24pm on Sunday.

When they arrived, the police found a 34-year-old man lying motionless.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Mr Hamka said there were two or three friends of the dead man inside the toilet when he walked in.

He said: "One of his buddies was crying and was on the phone, saying 'your brother died' to someone.

"As a lifesaver, I wanted to help. But looking at his body, it was totally stiff already, and I could tell he was a gone case."

He left the toilet after one of the dead man's friends asked those not related to the deceased to leave, as the toilet was getting crowded. Mr Hamka noted that he saw a small syringe in the dead man's left hand.

An elderly toilet attendant told The New Paper he'd seen the man walk in, but after noticing that he had not come out for a long time, he went in to find the man.

'ALL COLD'

He told the new paper in Malay: "I Pushed the door open and saw him lying on the side of his face. There was no blood.

"I touched his body and it was all cold."

The attendant declined to describe what he saw around the body. He said he saw the man a few times each week, drinking beer and hanging around with his friends.

A man, who gave his name as Dan, told TNP that he was friends with the dead man, whom he had known as Omar for three years.

He said he was at the food centre when the incident happened, and he was alerted to the body by the toilet attendant, prompting them to call the police.

Dan said Omar usually hung out with him and a few other friends to eat and drink beer at the food centre, but did not know what happened to him.

He said: "For the past 10 months or so, he's not been acting normal. He's been very quiet, didn't want to talk or drink with anyone else.

"The last time I saw him was on Saturday afternoon. I called him out for a drink, but he didn't want to go with me."

Police are investigating the case as unnatural death.

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