Singapore—An elderly woman was found on Saturday (Jan 30) floating in the Singapore River outside Parliament House.
And while she was alive but unconscious when she was found, she was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the woman was 83 years old.
The case is presently being investigated by the police, who received a call for help along South Bridge Road at 11.25 that morning, as an unnatural death.
The woman was found at about 11.30am.
Lianhe Zaobao said that the Singapore Civil Defence Force had dispatched a lifeboat to pull the woman’s body out of the water.
Witnesses saw them cover her with a white sheet after her rescue.
One witness who was at work that morning at a nearby restaurant said that no one heard the sound of a person falling into the water or calling out for help.
Observers also said that the authorities blocked off an area of around 50 metres from where the woman’s body had been found and performed a search until one o’clock that afternoon.
Five police cars were dispatched to the area, with 10 police officers investigating.
The witnesses added that they saw the woman’s shoes, a cigarette case, and some money on the ground nearby, which the police took photos of, and then placed into an evidence bag.
Unfortunately, death by drowning is not unknown in Singapore, although more drownings occur in the sea than in rivers.
Last August, a 14-year-old boy drowned at Changi beach while he was out with friends.
The boy did not know how to swim, his mother told the media after his death, which came as a shock to his family members, who thought he was out studying.
Divers from the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team managed to find the boy’s body in the water about 15 metres from shore. An SCDF paramedic pronounced the boy dead at the scene.
And on Oct 11 of last year, a man who had just celebrated his 53rd birthday drowned off East Coast Park.
The man, along with his elder brother and the latter’s family, were on a picnic at the park.
The family became alarmed when someone who had seen the man earlier told them that he had not surfaced from the water in 15 minutes.
The man’s body was found floating in the water at 7.14 that night, said the SCDF.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by a paramedic.
/TISG