POST-mortem examinations are to be carried out this morning on the bodies of two young men found in a Dublin fiat yesterday afternoon.
The two are believed to have died from a drug overdose or from using drugs which had been spiked with other substances.
A full bottle of methadone a substitute for heroin, was found in the flat, suggesting that at least one of the two was a regular drug user.
The names of the men, aged 21 and 24, were being withheld by gardai yesterday until their families had been notified. Books and papers in the Parnell Street flat suggest that at least one was a student at St Patrick's College, the teacher-training college in Drumcondra.
The college said last night that it had not been contacted about the two.
One of the men had been renting the second-floor bedsitter above T.J.'s Coffee Bar. The letting agent and owner of the coffee shop, Mr Tom Daly, said he had rented the flat about three weeks ago. It is believed the men previously lived in lrishtown.
The two were last seen entering the flat late on Wednesday night. Other residents in the building noticed throughout Thursday and early yesterday that there was no response to callers at the flat.
Mr Daly became concerned after hearing that one of the men might be asthmatic, and at about p.m. yesterday he forced the door of the bedsitter, and found the two bodies lying on the bed.
"I came down the stairs and there was a garda here giving someone a parking ticket and I said I think there's two bodies up there'," he said.
Both men had died fully clothed, although not wearing their coats. One was lying across the top of the bed, with his arms outstretched on either side and his feet on a mattress which had been placed on the floor beside the bed.
The other was lying curled up at the other end of the bed. One wore denims and a jumper, the other a jumper and tracksuit bottoms.
An initial examination by a doctor of one body showed no obvious signs of drug use such as needle marks. Gardai did not uncover any syringes in the flat, although a more thorough search was to be carried out once the bodies had been removed.
The full bottle of the heroin substitute suggested one of the men might have been regular opiate-user, possibly on a treatment course.
There were no signs of drinking, such as empty cans or bottles, in the flat.
The bodies were removed in black body-bags by undertakers at about 4 p.m.
Garda Supt Bill Donoghue of Store Street station said gardai did not suspect foul play and were awaiting the result of the postmortems. The door of the flat had been bolted from inside, suggesting no one else was involved in the incident.
Last month anti-drug campaigners held a Mass in Sean MacDermott Street, not far from the flat, to commemorate more than 50 people who have died from drug abuse in the inner city over the past two years.