Boy, 7, dead after nine-storey fall

A seven-year-old boy fell to his death yesterday from a Tampines Avenue 4 HDB block.

In a sign that it may not have been an accident, forensic teams and Criminal Investigation Department officers were at the ninth-storey flat he fell from.

Police said they received a call for assistance at 1pm. Paramedics pronounced the boy dead at the scene.

Officers were combing the area for clues when The New Paper on Sunday was there yesterday evening.

As officers inspected the body of the child, we caught glimpses of a pool of blood.

Neighbours say they saw officers inspecting the rubbish chute at the foot of the block.

Officers also used torch lights to investigate the pole rack outside the kitchen window as dusk fell.

It is understood there was no indication of a weapon being involved, and the boy's injuries were from the fall.

Several neighbours' bamboo poles were broken as he fell.

A man inside the flat talked to the police, but he was not identified.

Neighbours say there was a family of five in the flat: The boy, an older brother, his parents and a grandmother.

A neighbour who lives one storey above described the mother as "bubbly", and added that the two families always exchanged greetings when they bumped into each other.

The New Paper on Sunday understands the boy went to a special needs school.

He was often spotted in the care of his grandmother and displayed signs of hyperactivity, said one.

"I often saw her taking her grandson downstairs to get into a van which took him to school.

"She would have to hold on to him, otherwise he would run away," she said.

Another neighbour, who lives on the third storey, said she saw the boy's grandmother crying at the foot of the block.

It is believed that foul play, including murder, has not been ruled out, but no arrests were made as of last night.

The police are investigating the case as an unnatural death.