Forty Indians were dead and 50 were injured in a fire that broke out in a building housing workers in Mangaf city of Kuwait. The fire broke out at around 6 am in the morning, said the foreign ministry.
Around 195 people were working in that building and all from same company. The fire broke out in a kitchen of the six-storey building, said the officials.
Most of the death occured while the residents were sleeping as they could not inhalate.
After hearing about the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out a high-level meeting at his residence where is expressed his condolences and announced a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh to each of the families who lost their dear ones in the tragic incident.
Minister of State Shri Kirti Vardhan is travelling to Kuwait on the orders by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to work towards easy repatriation of mortal remains as well as for medical assistance to those injured”, said the foreign ministry.
Soon after the incident occured, the injured were transferred to give government hospitals — Farwaniya, Jaber, Mubarak AI Kabeer, Adan and Jahra. According to the hospital officials, all the admitted patients are now in stable condition.
Meanwhile, the Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar talked to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali AI-Yahya who told him that all efforts are being made to fully investigate into the incident and take responsibility for the same.
Indians account for around 21% of Kuwait’s population i.e., 10 lakh and 30% of its workforce. The others who died in the fire incident were from Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines and Egypt.
