Singh visited Adan Hospital, where 12 Indians are being treated; Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital, where seven injured Indians are admitted; and then to Jaber Hospital, where six injured are being treated.
He also met Kuwait’s health minister Ahmad Abdelwahab Ahmad Al-Awadi, who briefed him on the treatment of the injured Indians.
The blaze was the second largest fire disaster in Kuwait in terms of the death toll, and the worst in a residential building.
The owner of the building where the fire occurred will be kept in custody till the investigation is completed, he said.
Many victims suffocated while trying to run down stairwells filled with smoke, and people couldn’t go to the rooftop because the door was locked, he said.
Indian authorities scrambled on Thursday to provide medical care, coordinate relief and rescue efforts, and bring back the bodies of the dead, a day after the worst building fire in Kuwait’s history killed 49 people, among them 45 Indian workers, and left 56 injured. MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh with an injured person on Thursday. (PTI)
Minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, directed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to travel urgently to Kuwait to oversee relief measures, arrived at Mangaf on Thursday and visited several hospitals to meet the injured, even as a C-130J Hercules medium lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force was set to be pressed into service to repatriate the bodies, senior officials said.
Now catch your favourite game on Crickit. Anytime Anywhere. Find out how
ALSO READ- Kuwait fire: 45 Indians, 3 Filipinos identified among dead, authorities to promptly investigate incident
The fire in the Al Mangaf building, a residence for foreign workers, broke out in the Al Ahmadi governorate at 4.30am and most deaths were due to smoke inhalation while residents slept. NBTC group, an engineering and construction firm partially owned by KG Abraham, an industrialist originally from Kerala, had rented the building to house more than 195 workers, most of them Indians from southern Indian states.
At least 23 of the 45 dead are from Kerala, state government officials said, and state health minister Veena George has been directed by the state cabinet, which met on Thursday in an emergency sitting, to travel to Kuwait. “A help desk and a global contact centre are operating round the clock and the state government will fully support the interventions being carried out by the Indian government in Kuwait,” a Kerala government statement said.
Seven of the dead are from Tamil Nadu, and in a statement, chief minister MK Stalin said that “urgent steps” were being taken to bring back their bodies by a private plane.
ALSO READ- Kuwait tragedy underscores need for new emigration law
Before leaving for Kuwait, minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said, “The situation is that most of the victims are burn victims and some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition.” DNA tests were being done to identify the bodies and an IAF aircraft was on stand-by to bring back the bodies, he added.
Singh met Kuwait’s deputy prime minister Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah and was told that the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has issued instructions to ensure that all necessary assistance and support is provided to those affected by the fire. Singh thanked Al-Sabah and the leadership of Kuwait for the “proactive facilitation being provided by Kuwaiti authorities”, according to a post on X by the Indian embassy.
Singh visited Adan Hospital, where 12 Indians are being treated; Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital, where seven injured Indians are admitted; and then to Jaber Hospital, where six injured are being treated. He also met Kuwait’s health minister Ahmad Abdelwahab Ahmad Al-Awadi, who briefed him on the treatment of the injured Indians. Singh thanked him for the “exceptional medical care and attention” provided to the Indians.
The blaze was the second largest fire disaster in Kuwait in terms of the death toll, and the worst in a residential building. In August 2009, a woman, angry over her husband getting married for the second time, had set a wedding tent on fire, killing 56 women and children, according to Kuwaiti media.
As investigations picked up pace, Kuwait’s Fire Force announced after a field examination that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. Kuwait’s public prosecutor ordered the remanding of a Kuwaiti national and an expatriate on charges of “erroneous killing” in connection with the fire. The two persons, who weren’t identified, are being held on several charges, including “killing and injury by error due to negligence of security and safety precautions against fires”, the public prosecutor’s office said on X.
ALSO READ- PM Narendra Modi orders wider op to combat terror in Jammu
Al-Sabah said Kuwait’s Public Authority of Manpower will examine the issue of overcrowding of expatriate workers in buildings and the failure to comply with safety conditions. The owner of the building where the fire occurred will be kept in custody till the investigation is completed, he said.
The head of investigations at Kuwait’s fire department, Col Sayed Al-Mousawi, said a team probing the fire found an inflammable material was used as partitions between apartments and between rooms, and this caused the thick black smoke. Many victims suffocated while trying to run down stairwells filled with smoke, and people couldn’t go to the rooftop because the door was locked, he said.
