SINGAPORE—People living in a Singapore block of flats unknowingly consumed water tainted by the decomposing body of an Indonesian maid before police made the gruesome discovery, a report said Tuesday.

The Straits Times newspaper said some residents complained to authorities after they discovered the tap water on Monday was slightly yellowish and unnaturally foamy.

A police spokesman told AFP that a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man had been arrested in connection with the death of the Indonesian maid, whose body was discovered in one of eight water tanks on top of the 15-storey block.

An investigation into the case, which has been classified as murder, is ongoing, a police statement said.

Police said they made the discovery after receiving a call saying there was a body in one of the water tanks.

They did not say who tipped them off but the Straits Times said it was believed to be a colleague of the Bangladeshi suspect.

"This is so disgusting. My whole family finished a big pot of green bean soup I cooked this morning," Choi Ah Moi, 69, was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.