Woman's remains, believed to be of KF Seetoh's sister-in-law, found after Italy villa explosion

The charred remains of a woman believed to be the sister-in-law of food critic KF Seetoh were found near the villa in central Italy owned by her and her husband, days after an explosion there killed the latter on Dec. 21.

Seetoh's older brother, Seetoh Kwok Meng, 68, had passed away after the blast, which is believed to have been caused by a gas leak.

His Taiwanese wife, 52-year-old Chang Kai En, had been reported missing then.

Remains of woman found after four days of search

Authorities searched for Chang for about four days, Italian media reported.

Italian rescue group Anpana shared in a Facebook post on Dec. 25 that the charred remains of a woman, believed to be Chang, was found by a police sniffer dog that morning in the vicinity of the couple's villa.

The dog that found her, Bayla, was a specially trained police dog from Bologna's police canine rescue unit, Italian broadcaster SkyTG24 reported.

Further tests will be done to confirm the identity of the body after an on-site coroner conducted an initial assessment, Italian media La Nazione reported.

Sister-in-law loved her garden in Italy: KF Seetoh

Local food critic KF Seetoh penned a Facebook tribute to his brother following the latter's death, describing him as the "most jovial" among his siblings.

He added that visiting the couple's house in Italy's Tuscany region — intended as a "nice and peaceful" retirement home for them — had been on his bucket list.

His sister-in-law "loved her garden" and had neighbours who helped to care for their gardens whenever they travelled back home to Singapore, Seetoh wrote.

Seetoh said the family was receiving help from Singapore's embassy in Italy; they are still shocked at the incident.

Background

According to La Nazione, the explosion took place at Eglio Sassi, a small hamlet in the central Italian municipality of Molazzana, at around 11:30pm on Dec. 21.

The deceased and his wife bought their house in the town five years ago and arrived there at the beginning of December 2024 to spend their year-end holidays there, said the mayor, Andrea Talani.

On the day of the incident, the couple returned home after spending the evening with friends at a restaurant in a town nearby and parked their car outside their house, reported Corriere Fiorentino.

Italian media outlet Il Tirreno also reported that the cause of the explosion was "mostly likely a gas leak", as local officials noticed a "strong gas smell" when they arrived at the scene.

Top image from Kai En Chang/Facebook