Thirty-five workers were killed by fire in a Kuwaiti building

At least 35 people were killed in a fire that started early on Wednesday in a block housing workers in the southern Kuwaiti city of Mangaf, senior police officers informed state media.

According to Major General Eid Rashed Hamad, the event was reported to the authorities at 6:00 a.m. local time.

“The building in which the fire occurred was used to house workers, and there was a large number of workers there. Dozens were rescued, but unfortunately there were many deaths as a result of inhaling smoke from the fire,” another senior police commander told state TV.

Without mentioning the nature of the jobs or the workers’ country of origin, he stated, “We always alert and warn against” packing too many workers into housing units.

Four of the approximately 43 hospitalised patients were reported to have died as a result of the fire, according to the Kuwaiti health ministry. It was unclear if the four deaths were on top of the 35 that the police had stated.

Authorities declared that the fire had been extinguished and that they were looking into its source.

(Source: Reuters)