Kuwait fire: Bodies of 45 Indians killed in blaze arrive in Kerala

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and senior government officials received the air force plane carrying the remains

Officials carry a coffin containing the body of a victim who died during a fire that broke out in a building housing foreign workers in Kuwait, at Cochin International Airport, in Kochi, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, June 14, 2024. Reuters / Sivaram V

People gather around the coffins. Reuters

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, centre, and others pay their respects to the victims. EPA

Mr Vijayan and others pay homage to the victims. EPA

Relatives mourn the deceased. AFP

Mr Vijayan lays a wreath on a coffin. AFP

A relative mourns the death of 31-year-old Cibin Abraham. AFP

Policemen stand guard as mourning relatives await coffins of the deceased arriving on an Indian Air Force plane from Kuwait at the Cochin International Airport in Kochi on June 14, 2024. Grieving families kept a solemn vigil in the terminal of an Indian airport on June 14 as the bodies of dozens of migrant workers killed in a Kuwait building fire returned home. Wednesday's dawn blaze quickly engulfed a housing block home to some of the many foreign labourers servicing the oil-rich gulf state's economy. (Photo by Arun CHANDRABOSE / AFP)

The bodies of 45 Indians killed in the fire that tore through a six-storey residential building in Kuwait’s Mangaf district on Wednesday arrived in Kerala on Friday aboard an Indian Air Force plane.

At least 50 people were killed in the blaze at the building, home to about 200 residents living in cramped conditions.

The aircraft carrying the bodies landed at Cochin International Airport in the southern city of Kochi.

Twenty-three of the 45 victims are from Kerala while seven are from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh and one from Karnataka state.

The remainder are from Uttar Pradesh, the eastern states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, and western Maharashtra state.

India’s junior Foreign Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, who arrived in Kuwait in the aftermath of the tragedy, was aboard the aircraft and coordinated the repatriation.

“From here the bodies will be transferred to their homes in different parts of the state and the remaining bodies will be offloaded in Delhi and then will be transferred to their homes,” Mr Singh said.

At least 33 people were injured and were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in Kuwait.

Media reports said one more victim, an Indian, had succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Kuwait on Friday.

“The injured are being put in five hospitals,” Mr Singh said.

“We met all the injured people individually and took stock of their injuries. Some suffered fractures from jumping from the 2nd or fourth floor.

“Others inhaled smoke and their lungs were harmed but [they are] recovering rapidly.”

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet and senior government officials received the bodies at the airport.

The bodies were transported to the native places of the victims in different parts of the state in ambulances escorted by police.

A pall of gloom had descended at Umarudheen Shameer’s residence in Kollam. His parents and wife had only been informed about his death late on Thursday, a relative told The National.

Mr Shameer, 33, had moved to Kuwait to work as a driver four years ago. He is believed to have died after jumping from the building to escape the blaze. He was the family's sole breadwinner.

“His brother and I had gone to the airport to receive the body. His home is nearly 150km [away]. Ambulance brought the body to his home. We reached at 2pm. We have buried him,” said Safedu Oyyur, Mr Shameer.

"His wife and parents are inconsolable. His father is at a mosque," he said.

The Air force plane flew on to the capital New Delhi with the bodies of the victims from India’s northern and eastern states.

The village of Kakkon in northern Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district was in shock over the death of Himmat Rai in the tragedy, his nephew Inderjit Singh said.

Mr Rai, 62, died of smoke inhalation, Mr Singh told local media as he waited to collect his uncle's body at Delhi airport.

He had been working in Kuwait for nearly 20 years and is survived by his wife, two married daughters and a 16-year-old son.

“The people in the village are in shock. They remember him as a gentleman who used to visit his family every year ever since he went to Kuwait,” Mr Singh told a local daily.

Two victims were from Odisha.

Muhammad Jahur’s wife is pregnant. He had been working in the Gulf nation since 2017 and visited his village Karadapalli in Cuttack district last month. The other victim, Santosh Kumar Gouda, had visited home in state's Ganjam district in March and returned in April.

Rita Gupta was waiting for her husband Angad Gupta's body to arrive at their home in Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Gupta, 46, had started a new job at a mall two weeks ago and had signed a one-year contract that meant he could have only returned home after a year.

Another victim from the district, Jayaram Gupta went to the Gulf nation last December.

Their bodies are expected to reach home late on Friday.

The Kuwaiti Fire Force said the cause of the deadly fire was due to an electrical circuit, the Kuna News Agency said on Thursday.

Three Filipinos were also killed in the accident. Other casualties were an Egyptian and Nepalese.

The ages of the victims – who included a driver, a delivery agent, carpenters and engineers – ranged from 23 to 56 years.

While most of the victims died of smoke inhalation, several Indian nationals were burnt beyond recognition, Mr Singh had told local media.

DNA tests had been conducted to establish the identities of the victims.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Meshal has ordered financial compensation for the families of the victims killed in a fire.

Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Al Sabah, Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, announced the payments, the Kuna news agency reported.

Indians are the largest expatriate community in Kuwait, with a diaspora of about a million people constituting 21 per cent of the Gulf nation's population and 30 per cent of its workforce, according to the Indian government.

Indians began migrating to Kuwait in the 1970s following a boom in the nation’s economy, mostly driven by oil exports, and have played a pivotal role in the development of the country since.

About half a million Indians are employed in the private sector as engineers, doctors and IT experts, while more than 300,000 are involved in blue-collar jobs as drivers, gardeners, cooks and housemaids, according to the Indian embassy in Kuwait.