Most of the men who died in Kuwait on 12 June 2024 were Indian, and many of them came from Kerala. At least 23 of the dead were from that one state, according to the tally, with seven more from Tamil Nadu.
The fire started at around 04:00 local time on the ground floor of a six-storey building in Mangaf, in the Ahmadi Governorate. The building housed 196 male workers employed by NBTC Group, which also leased the site. Fifty people died. Most were asleep, and smoke killed them before they could get out. Others were fatally hurt in falls.
How the toll climbed
Kuwait’s interior ministry first put the number of dead at 35. After forensic teams searched the building, it revised the figure to 49. “The number of deaths as a result of the fire in the workers’ building … has risen to 49,” the ministry said. The final count reached 50.
Health minister Ahmad al-Awadhi said hospitals had taken in 56 injured people. Security agencies pulled 67 people out of the building, and five firefighters were hurt in the rescue. Crews put the blaze out 10 minutes after they arrived.
Among the dead were at least 46 Indians, aged between 20 and 50. Three Filipino workers also died, and two others were in critical condition. Nepali nationals were among the injured. Over 30 injured Indians were treated at Al Adan hospital, which the Indian ambassador, Adarsh Swaika, later visited.
What investigators found
A preliminary inquiry traced the fire to an electrical short circuit in the security guard’s room. It began there, then reached the kitchen. A flammable material used to partition rooms and apartments helped it spread, investigators found. Victims who tried to reach the roof found the door locked.
The building’s owner was detained over suspected negligence. Interior minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef said any property breaking safety rules would be shut at once. “We will work to address the issue of labour overcrowding and neglect,” he said. Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf al-Sabah blamed violations of building standards for the disaster. A senior police officer told state television that warnings about overcrowding in this kind of housing had been issued often.
The Kuwait Times reported calls for action against landlords and company owners who “violate the law to house large numbers of foreign laborers in extremely unsafe conditions to cut costs”. Hindustan Times described the blaze as the worst building fire in the country’s history and said it set off a crackdown on housing violations. Other accounts say it was the second deadliest in Kuwait since a 2009 arson attack that killed 57 people.
Compensation and the return home
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the disaster “saddening” and announced ex-gratia relief of ₹200,000 for each family of a deceased Indian national. Kerala’s government pledged ₹500,000 to families of its own residents who died. Kirti Vardhan Singh, India’s minister of state for external affairs, travelled to Kuwait to coordinate help and arrange repatriation.
On 14 June an Indian Air Force aircraft flew the bodies home. It stopped first in Kochi, where families from south India claimed their dead, then continued to Delhi for the rest. The Filipino victims were repatriated on 17 June.
On 18 June the Kuwaiti government announced $15,000 in compensation for each victim’s family. NBTC Group also offered aid of 8 lakh rupees per family.
A long-running complaint
Kuwait depends heavily on migrant labour, and human rights groups have long pointed to the living conditions. More than 1,400 Indian workers died in Kuwait between 2022 and 2024. The Indian embassy in Kuwait City logged 16,423 complaints from March 2021 to December 2023, covering delayed pay, harassment and substandard accommodation.
Sources
- Morning briefing: Kuwait fire triggers authorities' crackdown; all 4 gates of Jagannath temple re-opened, and more
- 2024 Mangaf building fire – Wikipedia
- Kuwait building fire kills at least 49 Indian workers
- 2024 Mangaf building fire
