KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The decomposed bodies of a woman and a child were discovered in a flat unit along Jalan Bukit Gambir in George Town yesterday.

According to The Straits Times, the discovery was made after a neighbour reported a foul smell coming from the unit and alerted the authorities at around 4.41pm.

A team from the Fire and Rescue Department and the police was dispatched to the scene.

"Preliminary checks found two bodies — a woman and a child — inside the unit.

"Their remains were already decomposing,” a source was quoted as saying.

The woman and child are believed to have been dead for some time.

According to an individual claiming to be her younger sister, who wished to be known as Nor, the 40-year-old woman had been living in the flat with her two-year-old child after divorcing her husband. She was said to be unemployed.

"The last time I saw my sister was at the end of May,” Nor reportedly told Harian Metro last night.

Neighbours living on the same floor said they had not heard any noise from the unit for weeks and assumed the woman had moved out.

"She told us before that she planned to move, and I even saw her carrying things, like she was preparing to leave,” one neighbour said.

"She mentioned the flat was going to be auctioned off and that she intended to relocate to Seberang Perai. After that, we didn’t see her again.”

The identities of the deceased had not been officially confirmed at the time of writing.

The bodies have been sent to Penang Hospital for a post-mortem examination.