Man found dead two days after he was reported missing near Lazarus Island, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

Man found dead two days after he was reported missing near Lazarus Island

This article is more than 12 months old

A 43-year-old man was found dead on Lazarus Island on Tuesday morning (March 29) after he had been reported missing since Sunday.

The police said in response to queries from The Straits Times that they were alerted to a case of suspected drowning involving a man who went missing at sea near Lazarus Island, one of the southern islands of Singapore.

The body of Mr Kurnia Hardiman Sumardi was found around 2.50am on Tuesday near the shoreline. Police are investigating the matter.

A spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force said it received a call for assistance at around 1.25pm on Sunday near Lazarus Island and dispatched two marine vessels to the location.

In a Facebook post, Ms Yanna Aziman, 28, who said she was Mr Kurnia's stepdaughter, wrote that he drowned while swimming there.

"He was a loving husband to my mother and was an involved father in our short life together," she wrote.

In an interview with Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao, Ms Yanna said her stepfather, who worked as a cleaner, was on trip to the island with family members. He had told the family he wanted to visit the beach before leaving the island.

At around noon, her mother realised that Mr Kurnia was missing.

Ms Yanna, a housewife, added that her stepfather was wearing only a pair of dark blue trousers at the time he disappeared.

"The water there is very deep and we were all worried," she told Zaobao.

The first posts online about the incident surfaced on Monday as members of the family appealed to the community to keep a look out and also for their prayers.

In an online boating community page, netizens urged those near Lazarus Island to keep an eye out for Mr Kurnia around the island and the beaches nearby.

drowninglazarus island