Eleven Asian workers, including an Indian, were killed as a fire swept through a perfumery, police said.
"Nine Bangladeshis, an Indian and a Pakistani were suffocated to death when a fire broke out in a warehouse in Al Qous industrial area, while they were sleeping," Major General Khamis Al Mazeina, acting chief of Dubai police, said.
Police also arrested the local owner of the perfumery and two Indians, including the managing director of the firm, for illegally using the perfumery premises to lodge workers, Mazeina said.
While ruling out any criminal intent, the police chief said that forensic experts were investigating to establish the cause of the fire, which broke out at 12:59 on Tuesday night, but was brought under control under half an hour.
The police chief said that owners of the perfumery had spread mattresses in a partitioned portion which was being illegally used to house these workers.
