Among the 49 victims of a fire accident that rocked Kuwait's Mangaf on Wednesday morning, at least 25 are feared to be Keralites, reports suggest. The assumption was made based on analyzing the names and surnames of the victims, reports said.
The fire broke out at a six-story building in Block 4 of Mangaf around 4:30 am local time, Manorama Online said in a report. The flat was occupied by 196 employees, predominantly Indians when the fire erupted. A shock circuit at the cabin of the guards is reported to have caused the fire before it spread to the kitchen area when cooking gas cylinders were stored. The explosion of the cylinders intensified the tragedy and caused multiple casualties due to asphyxiation, reports said.
The injured have been admitted to Adan, Jaber and Mubarak hospitals, the state media reported.
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The building reportedly belonged to the NBTC group, which is owned by Kerala native KG Abraham. Employees at NBTC's supermarket also lived in the ill-fated building, OnManorama said.
Indian citizens, who lost their lives in the tragedy were identified as follows: Shibu Varghese, Umarudheen Shameer (33), Akash Sasidharan Nair (23), Ranjith, Thomas Joseph, Praveen Madhav Singh, Lukose Unnunni, Bhunath Richard Roy Ananda, Kelu P, Stephen Abraham Sabu, Mohammed Shareefa, Anil Giri, Saju Varghese, Dwarikesh Patnaik, PV Muraleedharan, Viswas Krishnan, Arun Babu, Sajan George, Reymond, Jesus Lopes, Denni Baby Karunakaran.
Umarudheen Shameer hailed from the Kollam district of Kerala while Akash Sasidharan hailed from the Pathanamthitta district, Manorama Online said in a report. Ranjith, another Malayali victim was from Kasaragod, the report added.
As many as 35 people remain hospitalized amongst whom five are in ventilator support. The condition of at least seven of them is said to be critical.
This copy will be updated as more information on the victims comes out.
