MANILA – Three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were among those killed in a fire that razed a residential building in the southern Mangaf district of Kuwait City on Wednesday morning.
According to Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac, the three, who were part of a group of 11 Filipino skilled workers working for the same Kuwaiti construction company, died from smoke inhalation.
Six of them have been declared safe, while two are in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital, Cacdac added.
“We are in touch with the families of all affected OFWs, all 11 of them, including those in the ICU and the three fatalities,” Cacdac said on Thursday night.
He added: “There will be assistance in terms of funeral and burial services and of course financial assistance and in the case of OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration), there are livelihood and scholarship benefits but it will all come in an appropriate time.”
“We have given the instructions to our lawyers to cooperate, coordinate with the Kuwaiti authorities about the cause of the fire and the legal aspects of this case,” Cacdac further said.
The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry on Thursday said at least 49 people were killed and around 50 injured from the fire. Many of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.
According to Kuwaiti authorities, the fire broke out at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The cause was an electrical fault in the guard’s room on the ground floor.
Eyewitness in the building said the fire spread rapidly.
Kuwaiti authorities also noted that one Kuwaiti and two foreign residents have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter through negligence of security procedures and fire regulations./PN
