Kuwait has ordered financial compensation for the families of victims killed in a fire that broke out on Wednesday. At least 49 people died when a fire erupted in a building housing foreign workers. Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister accused property owners of violations that contribute to such incidents.
First Deputy Premier Sheikh Fahad announced on Thursday that each of the 49 deceased from the Mangaf apartment building blaze would receive compensation.
In a press release following an inspection tour of properties violating safety and building codes, Sheikh Fahad, Minister of Interior and Minister of Defence, emphasised that the victims’ bodies would be transferred back to their homelands on Kuwaiti military airplanes.
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Around 40 Indians died in the blaze, which also killed at least 9 other people in Mangaf city, while more than 50 were injured, according to India’s foreign ministry. Most of the Indian victims came from Kerala.
Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) confirmed the deaths of three overseas Filipino workers. Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the three, who died from smoke inhalation, were part of a group of 11 OFWs, all working for the same Kuwaiti construction company housed in the building that caught fire.
Two other OFWs remain in the hospital and are in critical condition, while the remaining six are all safe and unharmed.
An Egyptian who survived the fire and worked as a driver in Kuwait, told local media the fire had started on a lower floor and that those on higher levels were unable to escape. He said the building had filled with thick smoke.
The fire in Mangaf, a city along the coast south of the capital Kuwait City, was reported to local authorities at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT), Major General Eid Rashed Hamad told state television. It was later contained.
Another senior police commander told state television that many people had died from smoke inhalation, and dozens were rescued. He said the building housed a large number of workers.
The senior police commander said authorities had warned against housing too many workers in a single accommodation, but didn’t say if regulations had been flouted.
Inputs from Kuna