Malayali volunteers offer aid to Kuwait fire victims

Kuwait building fire: Leaders and volunteers of different Malayali organisations in Kuwait were at the forefront to offer solace and aid to the relatives and friends of the victims of a massive fire at Manqaf in Kuwait.

Leaders and volunteers of different Malayali organisations in Kuwait, particularly the Kerala Muslim Cultural Committee (KMCC), were at the forefront to offer solace and aid to the relatives and friends of the victims of a massive fire at Manqaf in Kuwait on Wednesday.

More than 40 people, most of them Indians, were killed when a six-story apartment building that functioned as a labour camp caught fire at 4 a.m. As many as 21 bodies were shifted to the mortuary at Adan Hospital, said KMCC Kuwait unit president Syed Nasar Al Mashoor Thangal.

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Mr. Thangal told The Hindu that their volunteers were ready to offer any help to the victims and their friends and relatives. “Our men are there at all hospitals offering all kinds of help. We have never had such a situation before,” said Mr. Thangal.

The victims were rushed to Adan Hospital, Jahra Hospital, Sabah Hospital, Mubarak Hospital and Farwaniya Hospital, some of the key hospitals in Kuwait. He said many had died of suffocation rather than burns from the fire that took place around 4 a.m. The cause of the fire was yet to be identified, he said.

Some Keralites who refused to reveal their names said that they suspected a gas cylinder blast in the watchman’s room. They said illegal sale of gas cylinders was common among some people.

The six-storey building reportedly flouted several fire safety norms, and the firefighters had a tough time entering the building to rescue those inside.