A family in Kerala’s Kollam district is anxiously hoping that the news they received unofficially about the tragic fate of Shameer, their sole breadwinner, in the Kuwait fire incident, is not true.
Shameer Umarudheen, 33, a resident of Vayyankara village in this southern Kerala district, had been working in Kuwait for the past five years. His family was informed about his reported death in the fire by a friend on Wednesday.
In the wake of the incident, local political leaders have stepped in to assist.
Sajan George, 29, a resident of Sajan Villa Puthan Veedu, Punalur, had left for Kuwait around one-and-a-half months ago and it was his first job abroad.
Earlier, the MTech graduate was working as an assistant professor in a college at Adoor.
After joining the company in Kuwait as a junior engineer, he had sent his first salary to his parents a few days back.
According to his family, he had called them a couple of times the day before the fire broke out and his parents came to know about his death through the media. Sajan has left behind his father George, mother Valsamma and sister Ancy.
Lukose, 48, a resident of Velichikkala, was planning to return to India when the tragedy struck. He had been working in Kuwait for the last 18 years and the family started panicking when they could not contact him. Later, it was his friends who confirmed the death.
Lukose was expected home by next week to celebrate the high grades secured by his elder daughter and enrol her for a course in Bengaluru. Though the family was first told that Lukose had been injured, his death was confirmed by evening.
Lukose is survived by wife, Shiny, and his daughters Lydia and Louise.
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.
In a brief message, Vijayan said that among the 40 people reportedly killed in the mishap, some were believed to be Malayalees.
Nearly 50 people, the majority of them Indians, were killed in a devastating fire in a building housing laborers in southern Kuwait, central government officials said on Wednesday.
The fire in the Al-Mangaf building was reported to authorities in Al-Ahmadi governorate at 4:30 am, with most of the deaths attributed to smoke inhalation, according to Kuwaiti media reports.
Construction firm NBTC Group had rented the building to house more than 195 workers, most of them Indians from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and northern states, Kuwaiti media said.
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