Kuwait building fire kills 49 foreign workers, mostly Indians
- Filipino workers were also injured in the blaze in the city of Mangaf that a minister blamed on ‘the greed of real estate owners’
At least 49 people were killed in Kuwait on Wednesday after a fire broke out in a building housing foreign workers, with Kuwait’s deputy prime minister accusing property owners of committing violations that contribute towards such incidents.
The nationalities of those who died were not immediately disclosed by authorities. India’s ambassador visited hospitals where workers were being treated for injuries sustained in the fire.
At one hospital, more than 30 Indian citizens were admitted, the embassy wrote on social media, adding that at least 47 workers had received treatment in hospitals.
Several Indians, including from the southern state of Kerala, were reported to have died in the fire, according to a letter written by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to India’s foreign minister that was shared with the press.
A government agency for Keralites living outside the state said it had been told by the Indian community in Kuwait that 41 Indians, including 11 from Kerala, had died in the fire.
Reuters could not independently verify the figures.
Visiting the site, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah said “the greed of real estate owners is what leads to these matters”. It was not immediately clear if any violations had taken place at the building or what they were.
