22-Year-Old SMU Student Mysteriously Drowns In Taiwan During Solo Trip, Parents Seek Answers

22-Year-Old Singaporean Girl Drowns While Vacationing Alone In Taiwan

A 22-year-old university undergraduate travelled to Taiwan for a vacation, only to turn up dead at sea, trapped in a fishing net.

The devastated parents of the late Amellia Moo Wen Si are now unable to get closure as her puzzling case remains unsolved.

The autopsy report will only be released next month.

Girl mysteriously drowns in Taiwan, body found trapped in a fishing net

According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened on the morning of 7 May in Hualien, Taiwan.

Fishermen had reportedly found a dead body off the coast of Beipu village in Hualien.

Per Shin Min, she was trapped in a fishing net.

When the police arrived, they recovered the body and confirmed that the deceased was Amellia Moo Wen Si.

She was a 22-year-old Singapore Management University (SMU) law undergraduate.

The deceased was 1.5m tall and weighed around 80kg.

At the time of death, she was wearing a white T-shirt with a Mickey Mouse print on it and khaki shorts.

Not her first time in Taiwan

Her father, 51, told Shin Min that this was not her first time in Taiwan, so no one expected something bad to happen to her.

“She had been to Taipei and Tainan but never visited Taitung. So, when she told us she was travelling alone, we were not too worried,” he said.

Ms Moo left for Taiwan on 28 Apr and was set to return on 8 May.

She had left her hotel on 6 May at around 5.30pm. Later, at around 8.17pm, she made a Telegram call to a friend, who did not answer.

That was the last time Ms Moo had contacted anyone.

Efforts to contact her by family & friends went unanswered

Typically, she would keep her family updated when she was not in town. However, when she did not respond to their messages, her father felt something had gone awry.

At around 8pm on the night of the incident, their messages to her indicated that they were successfully sent. Despite that, she never replied.

About an hour after, when her friends tried calling her, the calls did not go through.

After 24 hours, her family decided to lodge reports with the Taiwan police, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Singapore Embassy in Taiwan.

They also contacted the hotel she was staying at. The hotel staff confirmed the disappearance, saying she was not around even though she was supposed to check out on 8 May.

In addition, the deceased father shared that the autopsy report will only be ready next month.

So, her cause of death is currently still unknown.

Deceased might have been chased by a dog before she died

Her father added that she did not have any suicidal tendencies. Her body also did not show signs of being abused or sexually assaulted.

He theorised that his daughter might have tripped and fallen after being chased by a wild dog.

As she grew up in the city, Ms Moo has always feared stray cats and dogs.

“We think a wild dog might have chased her. As a result, she could have tripped, lost consciousness and fallen into the sea,” the father told Shin Min.

“We’ve checked surveillance footage surrounding the incident, but to no avail. We hope that anyone with any information will step forward to help.”

The last known footage of the deceased showed the law undergrad walking along the beach at around 6pm that day.

There were reportedly over 10 other people at the time of the incident, but they were all quite far from Ms Moo.

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook and ePaper.