Two employees, who were working overtime in a pulse and flour mill, died after getting trapped in a 12-foot-deep cellar used to process pulses, in north-west Delhi’s Keshavpuram on Tuesday night.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Vijayanta Arya said that the victims have been identified as Bebal Khan (35) and Mobin Khan (30), who hailed from Jaipur and lived on the mill premises.

“A PCR call was received around 8.30 p.m. regarding two persons who fell unconscious at a mill on Lawrence Road. They were taken to Mahavir Hospital where they were declared brought dead,” Ms. Arya said, adding that a case on charges of causing death by negligence has been registered. “The owner of the mill, Paras, and supervisor Anoop have been arrested,” she said.

Bebal’s brother Imamuddin (54) said that the victim were working at the mill for the last five years as quality control manager and Mobin used to work as machine operator. “The 12-foot-deep cellar, which was used to process pulses, had been closed for over a year. The owner had recently asked the staff to clean it before they start using it,” claimed Mr. Imamuddin who had helped the owner set up the mill about six years ago and left after a year after handing over the job to his brother.

The families of both the victims said they had been working overtime after their shift ended at 5 p.m. “Since everything went smooth when another cellar was cleaned a day before, they were sure nothing would happen with their cellar. Poisonous gases might have formed inside their cellar since it was closed for a long time,” Bebal’s brother said.

Mobin had on Tuesday evening entered the cellar to clean it without any safety gear and fell unconscious. When Bebal failed to get any response from Mobin, he entered the cellar. He started to feel suffocated. “He shouted for help, after which another employee rushed and alerted others. The two had fallen unconscious by then,” the brother said.

Mr. Imamuddin, who was in Kolkata for some work at the time of the incident, claimed that an employee had called him and narrated the incident. “I called the owner and asked him to do something. He then called the police and the fire department,” he said.

The family claimed that it took fire officials and police personnel hours to pull the two victims out and blamed the delay for their death. “They took two-and-a-half hours to take out Mobin and another two hours to rescue Bebal. They did not have proper equipment to pull them. In fact, an official who had gone inside the cellar also started feeling dizzy,” Mr. Imamuddin claimed.

Bebal is survived by his wife and three children, while Mobin is survived by his wife and two daughters.