The body of a 58-year-old man was found in a state of decomposition in his Yishun flat on Saturday night, Jul. 13.

A neighbour at Block 510A Yishun Street 51 had detected what he thought was the smell of "salted fish" and initially assumed it was from a resident's cooking.

A Shin Min Daily News reporter arrived at the scene after a tip-off and saw police removing the body at around 11:30pm.

The authorities were notified some three hours earlier.

Smelled like salted fish being cooked

A 64-year-old neighbour told the Chinese media reporter that he detected an odour as early as Jul. 13 morning when he was watering plants.

As the odour resembled the smell of salted fish being cooked, he did not think too much about it.

It was only until later on in the night that another resident noticed the smell and both of them thought that something was amiss.

The two residents of the block decided to check out the deceased man's unit by opening his window and realised the scent was emanating from his house.

That was when they realised something was wrong and called the police.

Friendly and moved in recently

The neighbour also revealed that the deceased man had just moved into the flat less than a year ago.

The deceased man was also described by the neighbours as someone who was friendly, and would get up as early as 5am to have tea.

"Other than that, there was no indication he had other ailments," the neighbour said.

The police said they received a call for assistance at around 8:20pm.

A man was found in his unit and pronounced dead at the scene.

The police do not suspect foul play, and investigations are ongoing.