SINGAPORE - Children often play at the multi-storey carpark in Pasir Ris where a girl is believed to have fallen to her death on Wednesday (Jan 8), according to residents in nearby HDB blocks.
They said children, who are mostly unsupervised, make the most of the empty upper levels.
A 28-year-old resident added that children in school uniforms usually cycle around the top floors late on weekday afternoons.
Another resident, five-year-old Summer, told The Straits Times that she had cycled there with her younger brother.
Other residents said older students sometimes practised parkour on the roof garden, and people would congregate in groups at the upper levels at night.
Carlyn Wee, a 13-year-old from Hai Sing Catholic School, was found motionless at the ground level of the carpark at Blk 526A Pasir Ris Street 51 at about 4pm on Wednesday.
She was later pronounced dead.
Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News reported that Carlyn was believed to have lost control of her bicycle while cycling down a ramp on the sixth story of the carpark.
She collided with a metre-high rail on the side wall and fell out of the building.
Shin Min said a domestic helper who spotted the girl lying at the foot of the carpark after hearing a loud noise called the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the police.
Only the bottom two levels of the building were occupied by cars when The Straits Times visited on Friday (Jan 10) at 11am and 6pm.
The carpark has six stories and a rooftop garden. The sixth level was empty except for two motorcycles.
Carlyn was cremated on Saturday morning (Jan 11) at Mandai Crematorium.
Shin Min reported that more than 30 people were present, including 10 who were believed to be Carlyn's classmates.
A relative who did not wish to be identified told Shin Min that Carlyn was a sensible and cheerful girl and the only child in her family.
The relative also urged parents to pay more attention to the safety of their children, and inculcate in them a greater awareness of their own personal safety, so as to prevent future similar accidents from happening.
Police investigations are ongoing.
