In two hours, two bodies were found in Marsiling early yesterday morning, in a case that the police are investigating as unnatural deaths.

A 59-year-old man was found dead at the foot of a Marsiling Lane Housing Board block and the body of a 31-year-old woman was later found in his flat at the opposite block.

The police told The Straits Times that they received a call for assistance at Block 17, Marsiling Lane, at 1.41am yesterday.

The man, Singaporean Ang Poh Hwa, was found lying motionless at the foot of the block, and was later pronounced dead by paramedics.

The body of the woman was found later in the man's two-room flat on the fifth floor of Block 16, Marsiling Lane. She was also pronounced dead at the scene.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday that the unit was splattered with drops of blood and had a stench in the morning.

The Straits Times understands that knives and penknives were found in the unit, and that the woman is a Vietnamese national.

Neighbours told ST that the man lived alone and was a private person. Retiree Zhang Li, 83, who lives next door to his unit, said: "We would sometimes see him with a woman, likely a girlfriend, but they kept to themselves and never greeted us."

It is unclear if the woman who died was the same woman that he was often seen with.

Madam Zhang added that she did not hear any unusual sounds or screams at the time of the incident. Neighbours said they had also not heard sounds of arguments or fights from the man's unit.

Mr Teh Joo Han, 22, a student living on the fourth floor below Mr Ang's unit, said that he had been up watching television till 2am on Thursday morning, but did not hear any sounds from the unit above.

"I can usually hear it if people are walking around, but it was strange that I didn't hear any noises," he said.

ST understands that Mr Ang had children and that he was a minibus driver.

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority records show that he was registered as the owner of a company called Sigmoid Marine in 1981, but the company's registration was terminated in 1984.

A 60-year-old cleaner living on the fifth floor said that Mr Ang had been living at the block for at least two decades.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was first alerted to the case at 1.40am and sent an ambulance to the scene, where paramedics pronounced a man dead.

The SCDF was alerted again at 3.30am and sent another ambulance to the other location, where it pronounced the woman dead.