Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar seeking the Centre’s intervention in the Kuwait fire incident which claimed over 40 lives, including several Malayalees.
Terming the incident as “utmost painful”, Vijayan condoled the loss of lives in the tragedy.
In a brief message, he said that among the people reportedly killed in the mishap, some were believed to be Malayalees.
In his letter, Vijayan said that he came across reports that a fire had broken out in a camp — known as NBTC camp — in Mangaf, Kuwait and many Indians, including some from Kerala, have lost their lives.
The CM also said that according to the reports, many have suffered serious injuries in the “unfortunate incident”.
“I request your goodself to give necessary directions to the Indian Embassy to coordinate relief and rescue operations by getting in touch with the Government of Kuwait,” Vijayan said in his letter to Jaishankar.
The Kerala government also decided to cancel the Loka Kerala Sabha’s inaugural conference, seminar and related programmes on Thursday in view of the Kuwait fire incident and resultant loss of lives, a statement issued by the CM’s office late in the night said.
The Sabha’s conferences on June 14 and 15 will be held as scheduled, but there will be no celebrations, the statement said.
The move comes after Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala called for cancelling the Loka Kerala Sabha in view of the tragedy.
The CM’s office issued another statement about the Global Contact Centre set up in NORKA Roots to provide emergency assistance in connection with the fire incident and a help desk that has been opened in Kuwait, both on Vijayan’s instructions.
The second statement also said that all efforts were being made to bring the bodies of the deceased back home as soon as possible and the CM has directed all concerned to intervene to make it possible.
Over 40 people, majority of them Indians, were killed in a devastating fire in a building housing labourers in southern Kuwait, central government officials said on Wednesday.
The fire in Al-Mangaf building was reported to authorities in Al-Ahmadi governorate at 4.30 am and most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation, Kuwaiti media reported.
Construction firm NBTC group rented the building for the stay of more than 195 workers, most of them Indians from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and northern states, the Kuwaiti media said.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
