The Kerala Government said on Thursday that 24 people from the state died in Wednesday’s apartment inferno in Kuwait’s Mangaf area. An official communication from the chief minister’s office said it was understood that 24 Keralites had died in the tragedy and seven were severely injured as per available information. The cabinet, in a special meeting, decided to give a relief of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the Keralites who perished in the Kuwait tragedy. The injured people will be given Rs 1 lakh each.
Health Minister Veena George and senior IAS officer Jeevan Babu, who is the state director of the National Health Mission, will leave for Kuwait to coordinate relief efforts and speed up the procedure to fly back the bodies of the victims. The chief minister’s office said M A Yusuf Ali, a prominent businessman from Kerala, would give Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and another expatriate businessman, Ravi Pillai, an aid of Rs 2 lakh each. It was feared that at least 49 workers, mostly Indian, were killed and scores injured in the fire at the multi-storey building where the construction firm NBCT, which has Kerala expatriate businessman K G Abraham as its director, had housed its employees.
