By IANS,
Dubai : Five of the six Indian workers killed on Monday at a hotel construction site in the emirate of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hailed from Punjab.
Those killed have been identified as Karanvir, Jasbir Singh, Pawan Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Balindra Ram and Chand Singh.
While Karanvir, Jasbir Singh and Pawan Kumar hailed from Jalandhar district, Manpreet Singh and Chand Singh were from Ludhiana, it was learnt.
The passport of the sixth, Balindra Ram, showed his hometown as Khaira. Since the passport was issued from Patna, it could not be confirmed whether it was the place called Khaira near Patna or the area by the same name near Amritsar in Punjab.
The bodies were recovered from the rubble at the mishap site Wednesday.
The incident occurred when an excess amount of concrete was poured on the ground floor of the under-construction Laguna Beach Hotel around 3 a.m. Monday, resulting in the collapse of the floor on to the basement.
All six workers got trapped in the rubble. Police had to use sniffer dogs to recover the bodies as the cement hardened with time.
Meanwhile, when contacted, an official at the Indian Consulate here said details of the deceased workers were still being awaited.
“We are still waiting for the passport copies of the workers from the company,” the official told IANS.
“Only then will we get to know where exactly in India they came from.”
The company, on its part, has said it will give compensation to the next of kin of those killed.
Meanwhile, three of the 11 company officials, who were detained initially for questioning have been referred to the public prosecution while the other nine have been released.
Ajman police chief Colonel Ali Abdullah Alwan told the Khaleej Times newspaper that the police have completed their preliminary investigation and the case was referred to the public prosecution, which was investigating and gathering evidence to refer it to the court.
Efforts are also on to repatriate the bodies to India with help from the Indian consulate.