Dozens killed in fire in southern Kuwait

Thirty-five people were killed and more were feared dead after a fire broke out in workers’ accommodation in Kuwait’s southern Ahmadi governorate on Wednesday, officials said.

Civil defence crews brought the fire in Mangaf district under control, Maj Gen Eid Al Owaihan, director of the general department of criminal evidence, told state television.

Fifteen people were injured in the blaze.

He said an inspection of the site and an investigation into the fire had begun.

Kuwait’s Interior Minister, Sheikh Fahad Al Sabah, told reporters at the site that he would ask the municipality to deal with all building safety offences beginning on Thursday after owners were put on notice

He promised to address the problem of labour accommodation overcrowding and said the owner of the building in Mangaf would be questioned.

A senior police official told state TV that the building housed a large number of workers.

Dozens of occupants were rescued, but many suffocated, he said.

“We always alert and warn against” cramming too many workers into housing accommodation, the official said.

He did not provide details of where the workers in the building were employed or their nationality.