Around 40 Indians killed, over 50 injured in devastating fire in Kuwait

Around 40 Indians were killed and over 50 injured in a devastating fire that broke out at dawn in a building housing around 195 migrant workers in southern Kuwaits Mangaf area officials said on Wednesday The total number of people killed in the AlMangaf building is 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians the remaining ones are Pakistani Filipino Egyptian and Nepali nationals they saidIn an unfortunate and tragic fire incident earlier today in a Labour housing facility in Mangaf area of Kuwait around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement late on Wednesday night Prime Minister Narendra Modi who described the incident as saddening reviewed the situation at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar NSA Ajit Doval Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Principal Secretary to PM PK Mishra among othersFollowing the meeting the prime minister announced exgratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased Indian nationals from the PM Relief Fund and directed that the government should extend all possible assistance External Affairs Minister spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali AlYahya on phone and urged him for the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those killedSpoke to Kuwaiti FM Abdullah Ali AlYahya on the fire tragedy in Kuwait Apprised of the efforts made by Kuwaiti authorities in that regard Was assured that the incident would be fully investigated and that responsibility will be fixed Jaishankar said on X Urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives He emphasized that those injured were getting the requisite medical attention he saidMinister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh is urgently travelling to Kuwait following a direction from PM Modi to oversee assistance to Indians injured in the fire and to ensure early repatriation of mortal remains of those killed The officials cited above said most of the Indian victims are from Kerala 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 The Indian Embassy in Kuwait is closely monitoring the situation and working with the authorities there to assist the affected Modi said on XIn its statement the MEA said the Indian embassy in the Gulf nation is ascertaining the full details from the Kuwaiti authorities Those injured are presently admitted in five government hospitals Adan Jaber Farwaniya Mubarak Al Kabeer and Jahra in Kuwait and receiving proper medical care and attention it saidAccording to hospital authorities most of the admitted patients are stable it said Following the incident Ambassador of India in Kuwait Adarsh Swaika immediately visited the incident site and also the hospitals to ascertain the welfare of the Indian nationals The embassy continues to coordinate with local authorities to assist Indian nationals who have been injured in this unfortunate incident and extend all possible support The embassy is receiving full cooperation from the Kuwaiti authorities the MEA saidOur Embassy in Kuwait continues to remain in touch with local authorities to provide relief to those affected The Embassy has established a helpline 96565505246 WhatsApp and regular call for family members to get in touch it said The fire in AlMangaf building was reported to authorities in AlAhmadi governorate at 430 am and most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation Kuwaiti media reported adding the fire started in a kitchenKuwaits Interior Ministry in a statement confirmed that the death toll reached 49 Construction firm NBTC group rented the building for the stay of more than 195 workers most of them Indians from Kerala Tamil Nadu and northern states the Kuwaiti media said The NBTC group is partly owned by an Indian officials saidKuwaits Interior Ministry said criminal evidence department personnel are currently working on identifying the victims and revealing the cause of the fire It said strict measures will be taken against building owners who violate laid down norms Unfortunately we received a report of a fire at exactly 600 am 0300 GMT in the Mangaf area Major General Eid AlOwaihan head of the Interior Ministrys General Department of Criminal Evidence saidKuwaits health ministry said the injured were admitted to several hospitals with 21 of them sent to AlAdan Hospital six to Farwaniya Hospital one to AlAmiri and 11 to Mubarak Hospital Amb AdarshSwaika visited the AlAdan hospital where over 30 Indian workers injured in todays fire incident have been admitted He met a number of patients and assured them of full assistance from the Embassy the Indian embassy said on XAlmost all are reported to be stable by hospital authorities it said The Indian embassy said it is in touch with Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities fire service and health department for necessary action Interior Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Fahad AlYousuf AlSabah ordered an investigation into the fire incident and issued directions to apprehend the owner and janitor of AlMangaf building What happened today is a result of the greed of the company and building owners AlSabah was quoted as saying by Kuwait TimesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever