Two people from Odisha were among the 45 Indians, who got killed in the Kuwait fire mishap on Wednesday. The fire broke out in a six-floor building that was densely populated with migrant workers in the city’s al-Mangaf area.
The two deceased from Odisha have been identified as Santosh Kumar Gouda and Mahammad Jahur. Jahur was a resident of Karadapali under the jurisdiction of Tigiria Police in Athagarh, Cuttack district, while Gouda hailed from Ranajhalli village in Ganjam district.
Their names were included in the list of deceased shared by Kuwaiti authorities. The other Indian victims include 22 individuals from Kerala, seven from Tamil Nadu, three each from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, two from West Bengal, and one each from Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Punjab, and Maharashtra.
PM Modi convened a review meeting on the Kuwait fire tragedy at his residence earlier on Wednesday. He also announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the families of the deceased Indian nationals.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar has urged his Kuwaiti counterpart for the early repatriation of the mortal remains of the victims. Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, visited Jahra Hospital in Kuwait on Thursday and interacted with six admitted Indians.
The catastrophic fire resulted in the death of at least 49 foreign workers and injured 50 others. The blaze broke out in a building housing 196 migrant workers. Kuwaiti authorities conducted DNA tests to identify those killed in the fire and confirmed the identities of 45 Indians and three Filipino nationals. Kuwait has assured a swift investigation and full support for the repatriation of the victims’ remains.
India is sending a military transport aircraft to Kuwait to bring back the mortal remains of 45 Indians who succumbed in the fire. Officials in Delhi confirmed that a C-130J transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force will transport the bodies back on Friday.
