Grave find spooks residents

FOR more than 40 years, the grave remained undisturbed at the foot of a block of residential flats.

It was discovered on Monday when excavating works were carried out for HDB's lift upgrading programme. The tombstone indicated that the deceased, Madam Sim Seok Inn, died in 1971 at the age of 83.

Some clothes were found buried near the coffin. Some residents of Block 711, Yishun Avenue 5, were a little alarmed by the discovery of the tomb.

Mr Zali H M, 57, feels that while it was nothing to worry about, he would still try to avoid the area.

"I will walk away from the lift. Maybe walk around it," said the retiree.

He, like some others, asked: "Why is there even a coffin here?"

According to a spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA), the burial site of the tombstone "may have been where a cemetery was once sited and then exhumed for public housing development by the HDB in the late 70s to the early 80s".

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