A 76-year-old Singaporean man who lived alone was found dead in his flat which was piled to the ceiling with rubbish he had collected from bins over the past decade, a report said.

An emergency services team took nearly an hour Monday to dismantle the apartment's heavily locked front door after neighbours complained of a stench and as long to find the remains after going through the junk, the Straits Times said.

Police confirmed Wednesday that they found the body of a man in his 70s in a public housing flat and were investigating it as an "unnatural death".

A neighbour told the Straits Times that the man's wife and daughter moved out about 10 years ago and his hoarding habit began around the same time.

He would rummage through dustbins in the area and stash items he found in plastic bags in his apartment.

"When I asked him what was in the bags, he said he had treasures," said the neighbour.

She said the man's flat had neither running water nor electricity and had multiple locks on the front door.

Like other affluent Asian societies with falling birth rates, Singapore has a rapidly graying population, with a growing number of elderly people living alone. Officials say 20 percent of Singaporeans will be 65 or older by 2030.