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Sunday 22 Dec 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Kuwaiti authorities have said three people had been detained for suspected manslaughter over a building fire that killed 50 foreign workers. (Photo/AFP)
Kuwaiti authorities have said three people had been detained for suspected manslaughter over a building fire that killed 50 foreign workers, mostly Indians, and plunged relatives and friends into mourning.
Three Filipinos were also among the dead, officials in Manila said, after the fire sent black smoke billowing through the six-storey structure south of Kuwait City and injured dozens more.
Most of the oil-rich Kuwait's population of more than four million is made up of foreigners, many of them from South and Southeast Asia working in construction and service industries.
The fire broke out around dawn on Wednesday at the base of the block housing nearly 200 workers in the Mangaf area, which is heavily populated with migrant labourers.
"One of the injured died" overnight, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya told reporters, after 49 people were declared dead on Wednesday.
"The majority of the dead are Indians," he added. "There are other nationalities but I don't remember exactly."
DNA tests underway
One Kuwaiti and two foreign residents have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter through negligence of security procedures and fire regulations, the public prosecution service said.
The blaze was started by an electrical fault in the guard's room on the ground floor, the General Fire Force said after an inspection.
India's junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh has flown in to help survivors and organise the repatriation of remains on an Indian Air Force plane.
"Some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition, so DNA tests (are) underway to identify the victims," he told Indian media.
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Source: TRT
