At least 41 people died when a fire swept through a building that housed workers in Kuwait early Wednesday, and officials said the blaze appeared to be linked to code violations.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah confirmed the toll and ordered the arrest of the building’s owner during a visit to the site, local media reported.
The reports said scores of workers were living in the building in the southern Mangaf district, without giving their nationality.
Kuwait, like other Persian Gulf countries, has a large community of migrant workers who far outnumber the local population. The nation of some 4.2 million people is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey but has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves. A fire at an oil refinery in 2022 killed four people.
No Bangladeshis lived in Kuwait building that caught fire
The Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait has no information that any Bangladeshis lived in a building housing workers in Mangaf city where at least 41 people were killed in a fire today (12 June).
"We have no information so far that any Bangladeshi workers lived in that residential building," Abdul Hossain, labour councillor of the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait, told The Business Standard over WhatsApp.
"Bangladeshis mainly work in the cleaning sector and Indians and Nepalis in the construction sector," Abdul said, adding that he had visited the fire site.
Moreover, the workers who live there do not have any job demand letter attested by the Bangladesh Embassy.
"This means that no Bangladeshis are living in that building and no Bangladeshis were injured or killed in the incident." However, Abdul said the Bangladesh embassy will look deeper into the matter.
