An IAF plane is on stand by to bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in a devastating fire in southern Kuwait’s Mangaf area on Wednesday. Forty of the 49 killed were Indians including 24 from Kerala.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs two lakh each to the families of the deceased.  Kerala government also announced payment of Rs five lakh each.  Most of the Indian victims are from Kerala.

Minister of state for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh left for Kuwait following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oversee assistance to Indians injured in the fire and to ensure early repatriation of mortal remains of those killed, officials said here on Thursday.

They also said Kuwaiti authorities are conducting DNA tests on the bodies of those killed adding total number of people killed in the Al-Mangaf building is 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians; the remaining ones are Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals.

“In an unfortunate and tragic fire incident earlier today in a Labour housing facility in Mangaf area of Kuwait, around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured,” the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA)had said in a statement late on Wednesday night.

Prime Minister Modi, who described the incident as “saddening”, reviewed the situation at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Principal Secretary to PM PK Mishra among others.

Following the meeting, the prime minister announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased Indian nationals from the PM Relief Fund and directed that the government should extend all possible assistance.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on phone and urged him for the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those killed.

“Spoke to Kuwaiti FM Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on the fire tragedy in Kuwait. Apprised of the efforts made by Kuwaiti authorities in that regard. Was assured that the incident would be fully investigated and that responsibility will be fixed,” Jaishankar had said in a social media post.

“Urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives. He emphasized that those injured were getting the requisite medical attention,” he had said. The officials had said most of the Indian victims are from Kerala.

In a related development, the Kerala government on Thursday said it will provide Rs 5 lakh financial assistance to the families of the people from the state who died in the Kuwait fire tragedy that claimed 49 lives and left 50 others injured.

The decision was taken at an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the morning, a statement issued by his office said.

The Cabinet also decided to provide Rs one lakh financial assistance to those injured in the incident, it said.

A decision was taken to immediately send state Health Minister Veena George to Kuwait to coordinate the efforts to provide treatment for the injured people as well as ensure the earliest repatriation of the mortal remains of the deceased to Kerala, it further said. The minister will be accompanied by Jeevan Babu, State Mission Director (NHM), it added.

The statement also said prominent businessmen M A Yusuff Ali and Ravi Pillai have informed the Chief Minister that they will provide Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively, to each of the families of the Keralites who died in the fire.