Kuwait fire kills 49 in building housing foreign workers
AFP
Wed, June 12, 2024
The fire broke out at dawn on Wednesday (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT)
A fire in Kuwait killed 49 people when it ripped through a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers on Wednesday, the government said.
The blaze, which broke out in the six-storey building south of Kuwait City at around dawn, also left dozens injured, the health ministry said.
Flames engulfed the lower floors as black smoke poured out of the upper-storey windows, unverified images posted on social media showed.
The interior ministry revised the death toll up to 49, from 35 issued earlier, after forensic teams scoured the charred building.
"The number of deaths as a result of the fire in the workers' building... has risen to 49," the ministry said.
The official Kuwait News Agency quoted Health Minister Ahmed al-Awadhi as saying hospitals had received 56 people injured in the fire in the Mangaf area, which is heavily populated with migrant labourers.
The building, whose exterior was blackened with soot, housed 196 workers, according to information given to the interior minister by their employer.
Oil-rich Kuwait has large numbers of foreign workers, many of them from South and Southeast Asia, and mostly working in construction or service industries.
A source in the fire department said the victims suffocated from rising smoke after the fire started at the building's base.
A foreign ministry said the fire claimed "the lives of 49 people residing in the State of Kuwait", amending an earlier statement that said they were all Indian citizens.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously called the disaster "saddening" in a post on social media platform X.
"My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones," wrote Modi, as the Indian embassy in Kuwait set up an emergency helpline for updates.
- 'Overcrowding and neglect' -
India's Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh was also on his way to coordinate assistance and repatriate the dead, India's foreign ministry spokesman said.
India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar posted that he was "deeply shocked by the news" and offered "deepest condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives".
He spokes on the phone with his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah al-Yahya who "expressed the condolences of the leadership, government and people of the State of Kuwait", the foreign ministry statement said.
Yahya also "called for a speedy recovery for those injured as a result of this painful disaster" and said Kuwaiti authorities were "harnessing all their capabilities" to assist them, it added.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef said the building's owner had been detained for potential negligence, adding any properties violating safety regulations would be closed immediately.
"We will work to address the issue of labour overcrowding and neglect," he said. "We will detain the owner of the property where the fire broke out until legal procedures are completed."
The blaze is one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world's oil reserves.
In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife.
Nusra al-Enezi threw petrol on the tent and set it alight as people celebrated inside. She was hanged in 2017 for the crime, whose victims included many women and children.
Associated Press
Updated Wed, June 12, 2024
Gulf Cooperation Council Member States
This is a locator map for the Gulf Cooperation Council member states: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A fire swept through a building that housed foreign workers in Kuwait early Wednesday, killing at least 40 Indian nationals and injuring more than 50, India's external affairs ministry said. Local officials said the blaze appeared to be linked to code violations.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah confirmed the toll and ordered the arrest of the building’s owner during a visit to the site, local media reported.
“We will address the issue of labor overcrowding,” he said. "I’m now going to see what violations were committed here and I will deal with the owner of the property.”
Col. Sayed Hassan al-Mousawi, head of the firefighters' Accident Investigation Department, said there were dozens of casualties and that the final death toll may be higher.
India’s external affairs ministry said late Wednesday in a statement that “around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured."
The injured are being treated in five government hospitals in Kuwait and receiving “proper medical care and attention,” the statement added. It said that India’s junior External Affairs Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh will be traveling to Kuwait to work toward early repatriation of mortal remains and provide medical assistance to those injured.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the victims and said the Indian Embassy is “closely monitoring the situation and working with the authorities there to assist the affected.”
“The fire mishap in Kuwait City is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” Modi wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Kuwait, like other Persian Gulf countries, has a large community of migrant workers who far outnumber the local population. The nation of some 4.2 million people is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey but has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.
At least 40 Indians are among 49 people killed in a fire at a residential building in the Kuwait
BBC
Thu, June 13, 2024
Many of the building's residents were from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu [Reuters]
At least 40 Indians are among 49 people killed in a fire at a residential building in the Kuwaiti city of Mangaf, India's foreign ministry has said.
The fire broke out on Wednesday in a building where dozens of workers stayed.
Video shared on social media showed flames engulfing the lower part of the building and thick black smoke billowing from the upper floors.
Authorities said many of the casualties are from the southern Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Around 50 Indians have also been injured.
Filipino and Nepali workers are also among the injured.
Two-thirds of the Kuwaiti population is made up of foreign workers and the country is highly dependent on migrant labour, especially in the construction and domestic sectors.
Human rights groups have regularly raised concerns over their living conditions.
Local media reports said the building housed 196 workers and there are suggestions that it may have been overcrowded.
A senior police officer told state TV that there were a "large number" of people in the building at the time of the fire.
"Dozens were rescued, but unfortunately there were many deaths as a result of inhaling smoke from the fire," he said, adding that warnings were often issued about overcrowding in this type of accommodation.
Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf al-Sabah accused property owners of greed and said violations of building standards had led to the tragedy.
"Unfortunately the greed of the property owners is what led to this," Sheikh al-Sabah, who is also acting interior minister, told Reuters news agency.
"They violate regulations and this is the result of the violations," he said.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, a junior minister from India, is in Kuwait to oversee assistance for the victims of the fire [MEA]
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Eid al-Oweihan told state TV that the fire was reported at 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Wednesday. It was later brought under control.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent his condolences to the victims and their families.
"The fire mishap in Kuwait City is saddening," he said on X.
"My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest."
He said the Indian embassy was monitoring the situation and working with the authorities on the ground.
Kirti Vardhan Singh, a junior minister in the government who left for Kuwait on Thursday morning, said DNA tests were being carried out to identify the victims.
"An Air Force plane is on the ready. As soon as the bodies are identified, the kin will be informed and our Air Force plane will bring the bodies back," he told news news agency ANI.
An eyewitness, Manikandan from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, told BBC Tamil that many of the workers had been on night shifts.
"Some of those who returned to that apartment early in the morning were cooking food after coming back from work," he said.
"Once the fire erupted, it spread rapidly. People living in the building were not able to control the fire."
Stephin Sabu of Kerala's Kottayam district is one of the Indians who died in the fire [BBC]
Back home in India, the families of the victims who have been identified are in shock.
Umaruddeen Shameer from Kerala's Kollam district worked as a driver for an oil company in Kuwait.
His family is stunned after hearing about his death, said a neighbour who picked up the phone at his home in Kollam.
"He was married just nine months ago when he came on a visit here," the neighbour told BBC Hindi without disclosing his identity. "His parents are not in a condition to speak to anyone."
Another victim, Stephin Sabu, 29, was set to travel home to Kerala's Kottayam district next month, an acquaintance of the family told BBC Hindi.
"His father is unwell and his mother is not able to speak," Babu Mathew, a member of the local church, said.
"Stephin was to arrive next month for the housewarming ceremony of the house that he had built," Babu Mathew, a member of the local church, told BBC Hindi.
Others say they are waiting desperately for news of their loved ones.
Ashrafunnisa from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu says she hasn't spoken to her husband Mohammed Sharief in two days. He was working as a foreman in Kuwait for the past decade and lived in the building which was destroyed.
“I last spoke to him on Tuesday afternoon. I haven’t been able to get through to him since then," she says.
(With inputs from BBC Tamil)
At least 41 dead in residential building fire in Kuwait
Daniel Bellamy
Wed, June 12, 2024
At least 41 people died when a fire swept through a building that housed foreign workers in Kuwait, and officials said the blaze appeared to be linked to violations of building regulations.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah confirmed the toll and ordered the arrest of the building’s owner during a visit to the site, local media reported.
The reports said scores of workers were living in the building in the southern city of Mangaf, without giving their nationality.
Kuwait, like other Persian Gulf countries, has a large community of migrant workers who far outnumber the local population.
Manorama News, a TV channel based in the Indian state of Kerala, reported that 10 of the dead were Indian nationals from Kerala. The channel posted photos of the fire
India's foreign minister posted on X that the Indian embassy in Kuwait City would assist the Indian nationals affected by the fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment