Nine Pakistanis killed in Kuwait fire

Exploding gas cylinder caused fire that also left 12 injured

KUWAIT CITY: Nine Pakistanis were killed and 12 others injured in a fire Thursday at an old building used to house expat labourers in Kuwait City, the health ministry said.

The ministry, quoted by state news agency Kuna, said all the victims were Indians or Pakistanis, but the Foreign Office in Islamabad later confirmed they were all Pakistanis. At least five of the injured were in a critical condition.

The fire took place in a house that had been subdivided into multiple residences in Farwaniya, a suburb 15 kilometres south of the capital, Kuwait City.



Fire service directorate spokesman Khalil Al Ameer said that six of those killed in Thursday’s blaze were from a single family, Gulf News reported. However, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria confirmed that all nine belonged to one family. He added that the tenth member of the family escaped unhurt since he was not present at the time of the fire.

The Kuwait health ministry added that six people died inside the house while the remaining three died on their way to hospital.

The 12 injured, including two firemen, were rushed to the intensive care units.

According to Acting Director Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD)Maj Gen Khalid Al-Mekrad, the prefabricated building in which the blaze erupted lack basic security and safety precautions and some have major violations, KUNA reported.



“The tragedy was caused, reportedly, due exploding of a gas cylinder in their apartment,” Zakaria said in a statement late on Thursday, adding that the Pakistani Ambassador in Kuwait was in contact with the affected family.

Last week, a blaze at the Gulf state’s central jail killed one inmate and wounded 56 other people, including a fireman. Expatriate workers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, make up around 70 per cent of Kuwait’s 4.3-million population.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.