Bodies of workers from T'gana, Punjab lying in Saudi morgue for weeks

Dubai: The bodies of two Indian workers have been lying in a morgue in Saudi Arabia for weeks as their former employers refused to bear the cost of their
repatriation, according to a media report.

Jaswinder Singh, 56, native of Kapurthala district of Punjab, died on February 21 in Riyadh and Ponnam Satyanarayana, 48, a native of Jagtial district of Telangana, died on March 11, Saudi Gazette reported.

Since then mortal remains of these two workers, who worked at the same construction company which is now defunct, are lying in a mortuary in Riyadh, the report said. It is not clear how they died.

Repatriation of a dead body by making exit papers and bearing the cost, is the responsibility of the employer. The deceased workers were in the Kingdom over 20 years but had no job for some time until their death as their employer abandoned them along with scores of other workers, the paper said.

They were waiting to receive their end of service benefits and planning to leave the country. "Without salary for over a year and half, we are passing through extremely difficult times and the tragic death of our colleagues have saddened us," colleagues of the deceased workers were quoted in the report.