Twenty-one workers among the 40 Indians killed in a huge fire in Kuwait yesterday were from Kerala, the authorities in the southern state said today.
The state Health Minister Veena George is going to Kuwait to coordinate the treatment of those injured in the fire, and to help bring the bodies home, news agency PTI reported. Junior Foreign Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh is already in Kuwait, on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to help coordinate efforts to treat the injured and bring back bodies.
The fire killed nine other workers, taking the number of dead to 49.
The Kerala government said it will give Rs 5 lakh to the families of workers from the state who died in the fire.
The fire started in a kitchen of the seven-storey building housing 195 migrant workers in Mangaf in Ahmadi Governorate on Wednesday. The incident triggered calls for action against real estate landlords and company owners who violate the law to house large numbers of foreign workers in extremely unsafe conditions to cut costs.
The fire started to spread just after 4 am when a majority of the 196 all-men residents of the building were asleep. Soon, a huge thick clouds of black smoke led to the suffocation of most of the victims, according to officials from the Interior Ministry and the fire department.
Families of the Kerala workers killed in the fire are devastated by the news of the tragedy.
Ranjith, a resident of northern Kerala, had gone to Kuwait over a year ago after celebrating the housewarming of his new home. He had planned to return to his village for a vacation in July, PTI reported. His village has been shaken by the news of his death in the fire. "He built a house and the housewarming was held a year and a half ago… but this tragedy struck," a neighbour told a a news channel.
Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Wednesday ordered authorities to probe the massive fire. In a condolence message sent to the families of those who died in the fire, the Emir expressed his sincere sorrow and deep sympathy to the families of the victims and wished a fast recovery to the injured. The Emir directed officials to follow up to the causes of the fire and hold whomever responsible accountable, the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.