The Kerala government on Thursday, June 13, said state Health Minister Veena George will visit Kuwait to coordinate treatment of injured and return of bodies of deceased. The government said 19 Keralites died in Kuwait fire tragedy.
The state government will provide Rs 5 lakh financial assistance to families of Keralites who died in the incident. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Officials told PTI that a fire engulfed a multi-storey building housing foreign workers in southern Kuwait's Mangaf area early on Wednesday, killing at least 49 people, mostly Indians, and injuring more than 50 others.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti authorities are conducting DNA tests on the bodies of those killed in the devastating fire incident. An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft is on standby to bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in the incident, officials said on Thursday.
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh has reached Kuwait following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oversee assistance to Indians injured in the fire and to ensure early repatriation of mortal remains of those killed.
Officials had said that total number of people killed in the Al-Mangaf building is 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians; the remaining ones are Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals.
Prime Minister Modi, who described the incident as "saddening", reviewed the situation at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Principal Secretary to PM PK Mishra among others.
Following the meeting, the prime minister announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased Indian nationals from the PM Relief Fund and directed that the government should extend all possible assistance.
Interior Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah ordered an investigation into the fire incident and issued directions to apprehend the owner and janitor of Al-Mangaf building.
With inputs from PTI