A woman’s death over the weekend at an Internet cafe that went unnoticed for hours prompted police to urge the public to be more aware of the people around them.
A 37-year-old woman was found dead on Saturday at an Internet cafe in Hsinchu City, police said.
A preliminary investigation showed that she died of cardiac arrest, although prosecutors and forensic experts were yet to confirm the cause of the death, police said.
Police said the woman arrived alone at the cafe late on Friday night. Shortly after her arrival, she leaned against a partition between the seats and stopped moving, apparently because of some discomfort, police said after viewing the cafe’s surveillance tape.
It was not until Saturday night that employees at the cafe discovered something was wrong and called the police.
Employees working on Saturday morning thought that the woman was just resting, police said.
Even after the body was removed, customers at the cafe remained focused on their computer screens, appearing oblivious to the fact that several medical personnel and police were there collecting evidence, police said.
“If people were a little more curious, maybe someone would have seen that something was wrong and might have gotten her to hospital in time to save her life,” police said.
In Kaohsiung in January, a 32-year-old man was found dead after playing combat computer games for three consecutive days, the nation’s second “sudden death” case involving Internet cafe patrons this year.
A 38-year-old man was found dead at an Internet cafe in New Taipei City on Jan. 1 after five consecutive days of playing video games.
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