A massive fire engulfed a six-storey building in Kuwait housing foreign workers early on Wednesday, killing at least 49 people, mostly Indians, and injuring more than 50 others, according to officials.
Most deaths were due to smoke inhalation while residents were sleeping, and a significant number of occupants were evacuated, they added.
The fire started in a kitchen in the building in the Mangaf area in Kuwait’s southern Ahmadi Governorate, officials said, adding that the building reportedly had 195 people living in it, who are workers of the same company.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said that the death toll from the tragic fire has reached 49, the Kuwait Times newspaper reported.
More than 40 of the dead were Indians while over 50 Indian nationals were injured in the fire, officials said, adding that the remaining ones were Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals.
The ministry said that criminal evidence department personnel are currently working on identifying the victims on-site and revealing the cause of the fire and added that strict measures will be taken against building owners who violate the law.
“Unfortunately, we received a report of a fire at… exactly 6:00 am (0830 IST) in the Mangaf area,” Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence, said.
The majority of the deceased were Indian nationals from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and north Indian states. Their ages ranged between 20 and 50 years, he was quoted as saying by the English language daily Arab Times.
The building is rented by the NBTC group.
Five firefighters sustained injuries during the rescue operation, sources said.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya who apprised him of the efforts made by Kuwaiti authorities after the fire.
“Was assured that the incident would be fully investigated and that responsibility will be fixed,” Jaishankar