People walking by Woodlands Mart on Tuesday night (April 19) were concerned to find a young boy only in diapers wandering by himself. He was found near Block 768, Woodlands Avenue 6.
He is also seen in a picture sitting alone on a yellow kiddy ride machine.
The boy, who looked to be about five or six years old, was only in diapers and slippers. He seemed to be in a daze, reported the Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News.
Ms Zhang, who runs a mobile phone shop nearby, said that a couple who saw the child wandering there asked her if he was her son. When said he wasn’t, the couple spent about 45 minutes trying to find the boy’s parents, but to no avail.
The couple tried talking to the boy in various languages, but he just shook his head and said nothing.
Word spread among the shopkeepers and the police were alerted.
Ms Zhang went home to grab some clothes for the child. The police took the boy around, checking to see if anyone recognised him. With no leads, after some time, the police brought the boy back with them.
Netizens found the incident “heartbreaking” and wondered where the parents were.
“THIS HAPPENED AT NIGHT. 45 minutes? WHERE the hell are the parents leaving your child like that? This is heartbreaking,” asked a Facebook user while some hoped it wasn’t a case of abandonment.
“Luckily, he sat at the kiddy ride guai guai and waiting for others to notice him and assist rather than wandering around,” added Facebook user Mimi Phoon.
Others wondered if the child could have special needs, which made him unable to talk.
“My 12-year-old stepson is autistic, and he cannot talk. His understanding is very limited. Some special needs kids do run away, making parents frantic,” said Facebook user Nor Hariyani.
“Parents might be searching somewhere else, and the child is somewhere else,” she added. /TISG
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