After some Vietnamese students said they didn’t see Ngoc at class for a few days and also couldn’t contact her, the employees of Queensway Student Hostel checked her second-floor room and finding one of her legs sticking out of the closet door. They called the police.

Albert Tan, a police officer in Queenstown, told Thanh Nien the death was not natural and they are investigating the cause. The body has been sent to the Singapore Medical Science General Bureau, the only place that conducts forensic tests on the city-state.

Fellow students said Ngoc shared the two-bed air-conditioned room with another Vietnamese student who went returned to Vietnam on Saturday.

Ngoc and was attending a course in finance and banking English and had applied for a masters course in banking and finance.

Elaine Tan, assistant communication director of MDIS, said the school had eight other Vietnamese students and all of them were staying at the hostel.

Ngoc’s brother arrived from Vietnam Wednesday evening and Tan said the school will help the family any way they can, including financially.

Ngoc had graduated from the Da Lat College in the Central Highlands’ Lam Dong Province and intended to return home and set up a company after studying for two years in Singapore.

Nguyen Cao Minh Huy, Ngoc’s 18-year-old brother, on Wednesday told Thanh Nien at their home that he chatted with Ngoc every night since she left for Singapore in late October but she was not online from Saturday onwards.

Huy said Ngoc also told him that she didn’t get along well with her roommate, but on Friday said they’d made peace with each other. He said Ngoc’s blog was updated until around 10 Saturday morning.

Many students at MDIS are in panic and the school invited monks to pray in Ngoc’s room on Wednesday, Tan said.

Nguyen Viet Kien, second secretary at the Vietnamese Embassy in Singapore, said he is waiting for an official report from the police.

Huynh Thao, a student at the hostel, said two of its three doors were open most of the time and anyone could enter the premises.

Thanh Nien found on Wednesday that the two doors were closed and one was guarded by a man who said he was working there for the first time.

But Lynn Sim, director of the hostel, said the area is guarded all the time and there are cameras on day and night.

Reported by Thuc Minh