Professional cleaners take 3 hours to clean Bedok flat floor after remains of woman seeped into unit below

The body of a 77-year-old woman was discovered in a state of decomposition in a Bedok flat on May 25 after blood seeped through the floor and started dripping out of the ceiling of the flat below.

The seepage of bodily fluids could have been hastened by the recent warm weather, which sped up the decomposition of the body, according to the owner of a cleaning company that carried out trauma cleaning of affected units.

Warm weather a factor

The unit at Block 163 Bedok South Road underwent trauma cleaning on May 28, three days after the incident.

The boss of DDQ Services, Rahman (transliteration) told Shin Min Daily News that upon entering the unit, his crew saw blood covering the entire bedroom floor.

Blood seeped through the ceiling of the unit below as a result.

Rahman said the cleaning and disinfection process, including for the affected unit below, took nearly three hours.

He noted that the presence of maggots indicated that the deceased had passed away for several days.

However, Rahman also posited that the warm weather could have caused the seepage to worsen.

"In hot weather, bodily fluids tend to decompose quicker and spread out more rapidly, which could account for why such a large amount of fluids seeped out in this case," he said.

Rahman said that his company has absorbed the cost of fixing the damage to the ceiling of the unit below caused by the seepage,

This is to "ease tensions and let the deceased depart with dignity", he said.

Rahman added that the company's responsibility is not just on the hygiene front, but also to give peace of mind to those affected by the death.

'Smell was unimaginable': Neighbours

According to previous reports, the deceased's neighbours a floor below said their son first discovered the blood dripping from their ceiling of their master bedroom at around 1:30pm on May 25.

The neighbours, an elderly couple in their 70s, notified the deceased's sister, who called the police at about 2:05pm.

Police subsequently arrived at the scene and the body was removed at about 6pm.

However, the couple told Shin Min that the blood continued dripping till about 8:30pm that night.

"We kept using a towel to wipe it, and the smell was unimaginable," they said.

During the next two days, two contractors, including one sent by the town council, paid a visit to disinfect the house, but the smell persisted.

It was only after the trauma cleaning was carried out on May 28 that the odour finally disappeared, they said.

Top image from Shin Min Daily News