Singapore - A body believed to be a 37-year-old Chinese national washed ashore after he was spotted struggling in the water with his girlfriend, news reports said Wednesday.

The corpse was found on Tuesday by a group of beach-goers at East Coast Park.

The girlfriend, 25-year-old Vietnamese Dang Thi Tho, was rescued earlier by a passer-by, The Straits Times said.

Tho, who lives in Vietnam with her parents, told the newspaper that she had learned that her boyfriend was married with children in China.

From her hospital bed, she said that he tried to drag her into the sea when they met to talk on the beach.

A witness said that the couple disappeared into the water. The woman resurfaced, shouting for help in Mandarin, and a male bystander jumped in and rescued her.

Singapore's Civil Defence Force searched for eight hours without finding the man, whose body was subsequently discovered face-down by the beach-goers, the report said. (dpa)