Two Indian workers died at the weekend while cleaning a septic tank at a restaurant in the Tarif area of Abu Dhabi.
Younus Ali, 26, and Mohammed Rashid, 28, died on Friday morning after entering the tank, according to Younus's cousin.
"We have made arrangements to send the bodies home for burial,"said Mohammed Arshad, who said a lack of oxygen was to blame for their deaths.
He said his cousin had been working in the UAE for six years while Rashid had worked here for eight years.
"They both are married and hail from Malappuram district in Kerala. The bodies were sent home on Sunday," he said.
Abdul Salam, a worker at a neighbouring store, said the restaurant had remained closed and the owner had been arrested by police for questioning.
"Both men were working for the same restaurant and got into the tank to clean it.
"One person went inside to clean the tank while the other person was standing outside waiting for him to come out. When he didn't hear any noise from inside, he went inside to check what happened. Both men could not come out and died in the tank," Mr Salam said.
"It's unlucky that they died. They were young and hard-working guys. One of them got married just one and a half months ago."
The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that it was not aware of the incident.
