New Delhi: A day after the fire broke out in an apartment building in Kuwait, the toll of Indian nationals has risen to 45, even as Kuwaiti authorities arrested two, including an Indian national.
Meanwhile, the Kerala state government complained that the ministry of external affairs had not granted clearance to health minister Veena George to travel to Kuwait. She returned from the airport after waiting till late on Thursday night to receive the clearance.
As per sources, the MEA was still processing the clearance, which had been submitted on Thursday.
An Indian Air Force C-130J transport aircraft has departed to bring back the mortal remains. It will first land at Kochi airport on Friday morning, as most of the dead were from Kerala.
Earlier, the minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh arrived in Kuwait and met with the foreign minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya. According to the Indian embassy, he also visited many of the hospitals where Indians were admitted.
The MEA had on Wednesday said that around 40 Indians were killed and 50 injured in the devastating conflagration in the building in Kuwait’s Mangaf city.
A day later, Kuwait’s first deputy prime minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef, announced that 48 bodies had been identified so far, including 45 Indians and three Filipinos. With two more bodies yet to be identified, the final toll could rise.
The building was rented by a construction firm NBTC Group and housed 195 workers. Among the victims, around 24 were from Kerala, while the rest were from Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The fire’s victims include a father of two who had been in Kuwait for just two months and another man who stayed back unexpectedly due to a last-minute denial of his leave request.
The family of 36-year-old Bahuleyan of Mamalapuram district had earlier waited for his return to attend his cousin’s wedding. But, Bahuleyan’s leave was not approved at the last minute. According to Malayala Manorama, the family had called his phone innumerable times in the last few days, but there had been no reply.
Arun Babu, the sole breadwinner of his family of five, had gone to work in Kuwait just seven months ago to earn money to settle his debts and build a house.
Due to the devastation, many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition, which meant that they had to be identified through DNA tests.
Kuwait’s minister of health Ahmed Al-Awadi stated that the injured were suffering from burns, inhalation of poisonous gases and fractures due to falling from height.
As per Kuwaiti media, the fire broke out in the ground floor building and was fanned by the presence of gas cylinders and metal breakers.
The public prosecution of Kuwait announced that it had arrested a Kuwaiti national and an expatriate for multiple charges, including “killing and injury by error due to negligence of security and safety precautions against fires”. It also stated that a special team had been instituted to investigate the fire.
While the nationality of the expatriate in custody was not released, it was known that one of the owners was an Indian.
