Following the tragic fire incident in Kuwait, in which 40 Indians died, the External Affairs Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al Yahya and urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives in the incident. Jaishankar said he assured that the incident would be fully investigated.
“Spoke to the Kuwaiti foreign minister Ali Al-Yahya on the fire tragedy in Kuwait. Apprised of the efforts made by the Kuwaiti authorities in that regard. Was assured that the incident will be fully investigated and that the responsibility will be fixed,” Jaishankar said. “Urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives. The Kuwaiti Foreign minister emphasized that those injured were getting the requisite medical attention,” the post stated.
He further added that the situation will be reviewed once the Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh reaches Kuwait on June 13, 2024. Earlier, the MEA said in a release that on the orders of Prime Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh is immediately traveling to Kuwait to work towards the early repatriation of mortal remains as well as for medical assistance to those injured.
“We stand with the victims of the Kuwait fire incident, and we express our sympathy to them. We had a meeting with PM Modi and tomorrow morning we are travelling to Kuwait. We will take stock of the situation and those who are admitted to the hospital,” MoS told an Indian media agency. PM Modi held a meeting in the national capital to review the fire incident in Kuwait. He said that the identification of the casualties is underway, and the injured people are being taken care of properly.
A fire broke out in a building housing worker in the city of Mangaf in southern Kuwait on June 12, 2024. The Indian Embassy has put in place an emergency helpline number +965-65505246 in connection with the tragic fire incident involving Indian workers as well.
PM Modi also announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakhs from the Prime Minister Relief Fund to the families of the Indian nationals killed due to the fire. Kuwait, similar to the other countries of the Persian Gulf has many migrant workers. These migrant workers outnumber the local people by a significant amount It is a country with about 4.2 million people, a bit smaller than the US State of New Jersey but it holds sixth largest oil reserves in the world.
