Arrangements are being made to have the bodies of two young Irishmen who died suddenly while on holiday in India released and flown home.
The Irish Embassy in Delhi has been in contact with the authorities in Varanasi, close to Nepal, in an effort to have their bodies repatriated as soon as possible.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said autopsies still had to be carried out on the bodies of Mr Eoin McGowan and his friend, Mr Aidan Geraghty, both aged 23.
Some reports indicate food-poisoning may have killed them, but the spokeswoman stressed that the exact cause of the deaths remained unclear.
Mr McGowan, of Cartron Point, Co Sligo, and Mr Geraghty, of Athboy, Co Meath, were travelling together in India.
They were in the city of Varanasi, northern India, when they died on Monday morning. Another friend with them fell ill, but recovered and is still in India. The news of the deaths of the two friends was broken to their families by someone with whom they were travelling, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The two young men had been working in the horticultural industry in the Netherlands for the past number of years and had set off on a trip with friends last September. The group had included Eoin's brother, Colm, who returned from India on Monday.