Police are currently investigating a case of unnatural death — the body of a five-year-old boy was found at the foot of an office building in the Woodlands industrial district on Saturday night.

It is believed that Soo Jia He may have attempted to escape through a window after he was accidentally locked inside his parents’ Woodlands Close office on the eighth floor. According to Chinese-language publication Shin Min Daily News, the boy’s parents had forgotten that he was left behind in the office when they drove back home.

By the time they returned to their office building, the police had already arrived at the scene at 11 Woodlands Close after being alerted to a case of fall from height. Lying motionless at the foot of the block, paramedics pronounced the toddler dead.

“It is a tragic accident that nobody could have foresaw”, the boy’s father told The Straits Times at the boy’s wake yesterday night.

The circumstances surrounding the young boy’s death was tragic — a scenario that no doubt would have elicited severe feelings of confusion and despair before his death. According to Shin Min, the boy’s parents had brought him and his older brother to work (the couple run an education center) on Saturday. The boy had fallen asleep, and the parents closed the office without realizing that he was locked inside.

It was only when the boy’s parents and his brother arrived at the carpark of their home that they registered that a son was left behind. Their home being a five-minute drive away from the office, it was estimated that Jia He was only left by himself for around 10 minutes. The office window was opened.

A friend of the family informed ST that the mother believes that the boy could have panicked after seeing their car drive away and fell out the window.

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