Kuwait fire leaves 24 families in India's Kerala state bereft

From a father-of-two who planned to leave his job to a 29-year-old due to visit his family in August, two dozen Indians from the southern state of Kerala died in a fire that ripped through a labour-housing facility in Kuwait on June 12, leaving their families bereft.

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Around 40 Indians died in the blaze, which also killed at least nine other people in Mangaf city, while more than 50 were injured, according to India’s Foreign Ministry. Most of the Indian victims came from Kerala.

Norka Roots, a government agency for Keralites living outside the state, put the number of the state’s dead at 24 with seven others injured and their condition serious. The federal government had arranged a special flight for the bodies, Norka secretary K. Vasuki said.

Among the Keralite victims was Mr Muralidharan Nair, who had been working in Kuwait for 32 years, including 10 as a senior supervisor in the company that owned the housing facility where the fire broke out.