KOCHI: Grieving families kept a solemn vigil in the terminal of an Indian airport Friday as the bodies of dozens of migrant workers killed in a Kuwait building fire returned home.
Wednesday’s dawn blaze quickly engulfed a housing block home to some of the many foreign laborers servicing the oil-rich gulf state’s economy.
Fifty people died in the resulting inferno, 45 of them Indians, with dozens more hospitalized and anguished relatives back home frantically chasing news of whether their loved ones had perished.
“We held on to hope till the last minute that maybe he got out, maybe he’s in the hospital,” Anu Aby, the neighbor of 31-year-old victim Cibin Abraham, told AFP.
Aby said that Abraham had been due to return to his home in Kerala state in August for his child’s first birthday.
Abraham had been on the phone to his wife just an hour before the fire began, he added.
Others sat in a waiting area at Kochi airport in India’s south, wiping away tears as the Indian Air Force plane carrying the remains of their relatives touched down.
Most of oil-rich Kuwait’s population of more than four million is made up of foreigners.
Many of them are from South and Southeast Asia working in construction and service industries, and living in overcrowded housing blocks like the one that went up in flames on Wednesday.
Nearly 200 people were living in the building and many of the dead and injured suffocated from smoke inhalation after being trapped by the flames, according to a fire department source.
The bodies of many of the dead were charred beyond recognition and needed to be formally identified through DNA testing before they were repatriated.
One Kuwaiti and two foreign residents have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter through negligence of security procedures and fire regulations, authorities in the Gulf state said Thursday.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef vowed to address “labor overcrowding and neglect,” and threatened to close any buildings that flout safety rules.
Three Filipinos were also among the dead, with the country’s migrant workers secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac saying authorities in Manila were in touch with next of kin.
The blaze was one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world’s known oil reserves.
In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife.
Indian relatives grieve as bodies of 45 Kuwait fire victims return
https://arab.news/nuvet
Indian relatives grieve as bodies of 45 Kuwait fire victims return
- Wednesday’s dawn blaze quickly engulfed a housing block home to some of the many foreign laborers servicing the oil-rich gulf state’s economy
Dozens missing after boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsized off the coast of Gambia
- At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region
BANJUL: Dozens are missing after a boat carrying more than 200 migrants on their way to Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, the West African nation’s leader said late Friday, setting off a frantic search and rescue operation.
At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region, Gambian President Adama Barrow said in a state broadcast.
The emergency services were joined by local fishermen and other volunteers in searching for the victims, days after Wednesday’s incident near the village of Jinack, he said.
Thousands of Africans desperate for better opportunities in Europe risk their lives traveling on boats along the Atlantic coast, one of the world’s deadliest migrant routes that connects the West African coast across Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.
Many migrants seeking to reach Spain via the Canary Islands never make it due to high risks of boats capsizing. In August 2025, around 150 people were either dead or missing after their boat that came from Gambia capsized off the coast of Mauritania. A similar incident in July 2024 killed more than a dozen migrants with 150 others declared missing.
It was not clear what led to the latest tragedy. Gambia’s Ministry of Defense said the boat was found “grounded on a sandbank.”
“The national emergency response plan has been activated and the government has deployed adequate resources to intensify efforts and provide assistance to the survivors,” Barrow said.
Some of the 102 survivors were undergoing urgent medical care, the Gambian leader said.
As he condoled with families, Barrow vowed a full investigation and called the accident a “painful reminder of the dangerous and life-threatening nature of irregular migration.”
“The government will strengthen efforts to prevent irregular migration and remains determined to create safer and more dignified opportunities for young people to fulfil their dreams,” he added.
