Sadly, one of the worst tragedies that struck the Indian migrant workers was a fire disaster that occurred in Kuwait, which led to the death of 40 Indian migrant workers, with 24 of them coming from the southern part of India, which is Kerala state.
The government in Kerala has woken up from its slumber, and now the Health minister, Veena George, is expected to visit Kuwait and act as the nodal officer to oversee the treatment of the affected persons and repatriation of the dead bodies.
The fire in a seven-storey flat for accommodating 195 migrant workers in Mangaf Ahmadi Governorate caused a civil stir in the country. The fire, which was seemingly traced to the building’s kitchen, escalated quickly and smothered many people who were asleep when the fire erupted.
The Chief Minister of Kerala has declared a compensation of ₹5 lakh for the families of the dead workers due to this ugly event. It has also raised concerns over the effective treatment of companies’ real estate landlords and owners, who neglected safety standards to accommodate significant numbers of foreign workers in cramped, dangerous, substandard living conditions for cost-saving measures rather than for their workers’ welfare.
The unhappy news had flashed like a tragedy to the families of the Kerala workers, who were enjoying sweet relationships with their families back home, including Ranjith, who only house-warming in his latest house before he left for Kuwait over one and half years ago. It is again the village today in a puzzle of what has become of its son.
Indeed, the established solidarity as Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has called upon authorities to tread to the root cause of the fire and those associated with safety regs violation. He also, on behalf of the government and people of C’C’, extended his heartfelt condolences to the affected families and prayed for the early recovery of those who were injured.
While the people of India grieve such unfortunate loss of its citizens, the Government of India is continuously trying, through Junior Foreign Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh who is already in Kuwait in accordance with direction from PM Narendra Modi, to reptriate the bodies and support the blood of the affected Indian citizen.
