A witness has described how he saw a mother and a lifeguard searching "frantically" for her three-year-old son on a Sentosa beach - minutes before he was found drowned.
Haziq Anaqi Mohd Hafiz was reported to have been playing with his five-year-old brother by the sea at Siloso before Sunday's tragedy at around 11.50am.
Police have classified his death as unnatural and are investigating.
A spokesman said a call was received at 12.03pm and officers arrived to find the boy unconscious.
He was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where efforts to revive him failed and he was later pronounced dead.
A user of citizen journalism website Stomp called "Kelvin" wrote in to say how he witnessed the tragedy.
He said: "A distraught mother was on the beach shouting for her lost son. Then I realised she was frantically looking for her younger son and her older son did not know his whereabouts.
"He was fished out of the waters about 10 to 15 minutes later."
Haziq was buried yesterday at the Pusara Abadi Cemetery in Lim Chu Kang.
A friend of Haziq's father, who declined to be named, told The Straits Times that Haziq was "such a cute and well-behaved boy".
A spokesman for Sentosa said it was the first drowning this year off the island's beaches, all of which are patrolled by lifeguards.
The last drowning was at Palawan beach on New Year's Day last year.
Former lifeguard Alan Tan, 25, said the waters off Sentosa's beaches are generally safe for swimming, provided people keep within the boundaries.
He added: "Parents should take extra care and watch their children at all times."
