Police were alerted to the case at 10.15 am on Friday. They found the man lying motionless, face-up, in a pool of blood on the floor inside a container room near a foreign workers dormitory block, wearing only a pair of black underwear.

The victim, who was working as a cleaner there, had wounds on his chest and arms. Paramedics pronounced him dead when they arrived at the scene at 10.30 am.

The container is next to two five-storey dormitory blocks housing some 500 foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.

Ms Tina Das, 40, a purchasing officer of Lal Marine and Construction, a warehouse-cum-dormitory across the road, said she had seen the victim sweeping the compound every morning when she comes to work. She said he had long hair and kept pretty much to himself.

Mr G.R. Gabriel, 42, a security guard from an adjacent dormitory, said he was told of the murder by the manager in charge of the two dorms.

Anyone with information should call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.