India brings home bodies of 45 workers killed in Kuwait fire

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - The bodies of 45 Indians who died in a fire in a labour housing facility in Kuwait were flown to India on Friday (June 14), as bereaved relatives and experts urged New Delhi to do more to protect the lives of those who work abroad and send remittances home.

An electrical short circuit is likely to have caused Wednesday's fire in the housing facility in Mangaf, a coastal city south of the capital Kuwait City. The Indian workers were among the 49 people who perished. A further 33 are being treated in hospitals.

Television showed bereaved families waiting at the airport to receive the bodies of their loved ones. On arrival, the coffins were placed with photographs of the deceased on separate tables in the cargo complex of the airport.

Families, friends, ministers and officials paid homage while police gave them a guard of honour.

Twenty-three of the 45 were from the southern Indian state of Kerala and its chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, called the accident "a national tragedy".

"This is the biggest tragedy involving migrants. We consider the migrants as our lifeline. It's a big loss to the state," he told reporters.

Millions of foreign workers make up the majority of the labour force in Kuwait and some of its Gulf neighbours, and often live in overcrowded accommodation.

On Thursday, Kuwaiti prosecutors ordered one citizen and a number of residents to be remanded in custody over accusations of manslaughter due to safety negligence at the building.

India's foreign ministry said 176 workers lived there.

The other dead included three Filipino workers, the Philippine migrant workers ministry said, adding that two more were in hospital and in a critical condition.

Local authorities did not disclose