Kuwait fire leaves 24 families in Kerala state devastated; special plane to bring bodies

Ashraf Padanna, Correspondent / Reuters

From a father-of-two who planned to leave his job to a 29-year-old due to visit his family in August, two dozen Indians from the southern state of Kerala died in a fire that ripped through a labour-housing facility in Kuwait on Wednesday, leaving their families bereft.

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.

Norka Roots, a government agency for Keralites living outside the state, put the number of the state's dead at 24 with seven others injured and their condition serious. The federal government had arranged a special flight to bring the bodies, Norka Secretary K Vasuki said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is "doing everything possible to assist those affected by this gruesome fire tragedy," in a post on X late on Wednesday. Next of kin will receive payments of 200,000 rupees ($2,400), Modi's office announced.

Kerala government has offered Rs500,000 to the families of the dead Kerala expatriates and Rs100,000 to those who were injured.

Industrialists MA Yusuffali and Ravi Pillai have expressed willingness to provide financial assistance of Rs500,000 and Rs200,000 respectively to the victims’ families.

"Autopsy and DNA matching of 22 victims identified by the Kuwaiti authorities among the 24 are completed,” a Norka department official said. "The bodies will be brought here after completing the repatriation protocol. All bodies are expected to be flown in on a charter flight and we expect it within a day.”

Currently, 12 people from Kerala are being treated in intensive care units of different hospitals, and those who suffered minor injuries are being discharged.

"There are 196 workers living in 72 rooms of the building,” Shamsudeen Kanneth, an expatriate engaged in rescue operations, told the Gulf Today on the phone.

"Many jumped out of their balconies, and four of them died under the impact of the fall. Friends and relatives identified the bodies. Some were burnt beyond recognition.”

He said the blaze broke out after 4 am, and within five minutes of getting a call, the firefighters reached the spot and put out the fire in the seven-story building.

"The victims were sleeping in their rooms. It was dark, and many struggled to find their door. Around 20 inmates escaped as they were at work on the night shift,” he said.

Among the Keralite victims was Muralidharan Nair, who had been working in Kuwait for 32 years, including 10 as a senior supervisor in the company that owned the housing facility where the fire broke out.

"He came on leave in December for two months with a plan to end his career in Kuwait. The company called him back," his brother, Vinu V Nair, told Reuters, adding that the family identified the 61-year-old from a list published by India's embassy. His two roommates also died in the blaze.

News of the disaster spread quickly in Kerala. The family of Saju Varghese, 56, found out about the fire from television and social media, and confirmed his death from friends and relatives in Kuwait.

Working in the Gulf nation for the last 21 years, Varghese planned to visit Kerala later this month to arrange his daughter's higher education. "The family is in a state of shock," their neighbour, George Samuel, said.

Another victim, Stephin Abraham Sabu, 29, was an engineer in Kuwait since 2019 and called home almost daily.

He had visited his hometown Kottayam "two or three times" since he left, and had booked air tickets to return in August for the housewarming of his family's new home and to help them buy a new car, his friends said.

Sabu's father has a small shop in Kottayam while his mother is a housewife. His brother, Febin, also works in Kuwait but lived separately.

Authorities in Kuwait have not officially disclosed the nationalities of those who died. The other dead included three Filipino workers, the Philippine migrant workers ministry said on Thursday, adding that two others were hospitalised and in critical condition.