13 out of 14 victims from Kerala identified

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thirteen of the 14 Keralites who died in a fatal fire that devastated a building in Al-Mangaf, southern Kuwait, have been identified.

The fire that broke out at a labor camp in Kuwait killed 49 employees of a Keralite-owned company.

The families who received the information were devastated.

“My son was a professor at an engineering school here and only last month he went to Kuwait. He received his salary on the 5th of this month and it was transferred to us the same day. We also spoke to him on Tuesday evening,” said a grieving father, George Pothen, in Pathanamthitta.

“When the news of the fire came on television, I knew it was the same company where my brother worked. We tried to believe that my brother would be safe, but that wasn't the case. We learned of his death when his name was broadcast on television channels. We have not yet broken the news to our old mother,” lamented a woman.

Stephin Abraham, 29, who lived in Pampady in Kottayam, was an engineer and had been working in Kuwait for six years.

“He was my tenant for a few years and he was building his own house. He was here six months ago to see the progress of his house,” the owner said.

The company is owned by KG Abraham, a Keralite who has various business interests in the Middle East and also owns a five-star hotel in Kochi.

The fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday in the building. According to sources in Kuwait, the toll could have been higher. Around 18 employees, who were residing in the ill-fated building, had left the building around 4 a.m. to resume their morning duties.

New Union Minister of State George Kurian said Defense Ministry Kirthi Vardhan Singh had already left for Kuwait to coordinate Indian embassy efforts to bring back the bodies of those who lost their lives.

“All arrangements will be made to bring back the bodies of all Indians,” Minister Kurian said.

Meanwhile, a diaspora meeting in the state capital, which was to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday, has been cancelled, while the deliberations will be held on Friday and Saturday.

CM Vijayan called for an emergency cabinet meeting in the morning to take stock of the situation and decide on compensation to be given to the affected families.