The bodies of forty-five Indian workers tragically killed in a fire in Kuwait have been repatriated to India on Friday, prompting calls for improved safeguards for overseas workers who support families back home with remittances.
The fire, believed to have started due to an electrical short circuit in a labour housing facility in Mangaf, a city south of Kuwait’s capital on Wednesday, claimed the lives of 45 Indian workers out of the 49 fatalities reported. An additional 33 individuals are currently hospitalised for injuries sustained in the blaze.
Grieving families were captured in television footage awaiting the arrival of their loved ones’ coffins at the airport.
The coffins, each adorned with photographs of the deceased, were placed on separate tables within the airport’s cargo complex. Families, friends, ministers, and officials paid their tributes, with police providing a solemn guard of honour.
Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala, where some of the victims were from, Pinarayi Vijayan, called the accident “a national tragedy.”
The tragic incident has brought attention to the conditions faced by millions of foreign workers who constitute the majority of the labour force in Kuwait and other Gulf nations, often residing in overcrowded accommodations.
In response to the incident, Kuwaiti authorities have taken legal action, remanding one citizen and several residents in custody over allegations of manslaughter due to safety negligence at the facility where 176 workers, including the Indian victims, were housed.