By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DUBAI (Worthy News) – A fire spread through a building housing foreign workers in Kuwait on Wednesday, killing dozens of Indian nationals and injuring many, officials said.
Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah confirmed ordered the arrest of the building’s owner during a visit to the site, local media reported.
“We will address the issue of labor overcrowding,” he said. “I’m now going to see what violations were committed here, and I will deal with the property owner.”
India’s external affairs ministry said late Wednesday in a statement that “around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured.”
The injured are being treated in five government hospitals in Kuwait and receiving “proper medical care and attention,” the statement added.
It said that India’s junior External Affairs Minister, Kirti Vardhan Singh, will be traveling to Kuwait to work toward early repatriation of mortal remains and provide medical assistance to those injured.
OFFERING CONDOLENCES
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the victims and said the Indian Embassy is “closely monitoring the situation and working with the authorities there to assist the affected.”
“The fire mishap in Kuwait City is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” Modi wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Like other Persian Gulf countries, Kuwait has a large community of migrant workers far outnumber the local population. Kuwait has come under pressure to improve the safety and working circumstances of migrants.
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.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire that was to begin Friday afternoon, Worthy News learned.
At least 10 people, including four children, were injured in a Russian strike on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian authorities said Friday. In southern Ukraine, the State Emergency Service reported that one person was killed and four others were injured in a separate Russian attack on the Odesa region.
President Donald Trump signed the temporary peace deal with Iran ahead of schedule Wednesday at the Palace of Versailles in France, kicking off negotiations over a final nuclear deal.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the United States is being viewed by analysts not as an embrace of peace, but as a carefully crafted declaration that preserves Tehran’s revolutionary posture while allowing the regime to regroup.
The United States imposed new sanctions Thursday on individuals and entities linked to Hezbollah, accusing them of using political and financial influence to obstruct Lebanon’s peace process and delay the Iran-backed group’s disarmament.
Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow since the war began, hitting a key oil refinery and other targets around the Russian capital, leaving at least one person dead and numerous others injured, Russian officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Southeast Asian leaders in Kazan this week as Moscow moved to deepen ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and promote its vision of a “multipolar world order” aimed at countering U.S. global dominance.