Kuwait building fire: 3 OFWs dead

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has confirmed that three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) died due to smoke inhalation in a fire that engulfed a building in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Earlier reports from the DMW indicated that 11 OFWs were affected by the blaze, which began at 4:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Manila time).

Meanwhile, two other OFWs remain in critical condition, while the remaining six are safe and unharmed.

Secretary Hans Cacdac has directed the Migrant Workers Office in Kuwait (MWO-Kuwait) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Welfare Office to coordinate with the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait and Ambassador Jose Cabrera for the repatriation of the three workers’ remains.

Cacdac said he and OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio contacted the families and relatives of the 11 OFWs.

“We are in touch with the families of all the affected OFWs, including the families of those two in critical condition and the families of the three fatalities,” he said.

“Six of them are now safe and provided with their immediate needs. We will provide all the necessary assistance and support to the OFWs and their families in this difficult time as directed by the President,” he added.

He also noted that the Kuwaiti government and the relevant company are collaborating with the agency and have assisted the affected OFWs.

The fire killed 49 people when it ripped through a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers on Wednesday.

The blaze, which broke out in the six-story building south of Kuwait City at around dawn, also left dozens injured, the health ministry said.

Flames engulfed the lower floors as black smoke poured out of the upper-story windows, unverified images posted on social media showed.

The interior ministry revised the death toll up to 49, from 35 issued earlier, after forensic teams scoured the charred building.

“The number of deaths as a result of the fire in the workers’ building... has risen to 49,” the ministry said.

The official Kuwait News Agency quoted Health Minister Ahmed al-Awadhi as saying hospitals had received 56 people injured in the fire in the Mangaf area, which is heavily populated with migrant laborers.

The building, whose exterior was blackened with soot, housed 196 workers, according to information given to the interior minister by their employer.

Oil-rich Kuwait has large numbers of foreign workers, many of them from South and Southeast Asia, and mostly working in construction or service industries.

A source in the fire department said the victims suffocated from rising smoke after the fire started at the building’s base.

A foreign ministry said the fire claimed “the lives of 49 people residing in the State of Kuwait,” amending an earlier statement that said they were all Indian citizens.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously called the disaster “saddening” in a post on social media platform X.

“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones,” wrote Modi, as the Indian embassy in Kuwait set up an emergency helpline for updates.

The blaze is one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world’s oil reserves.

In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife.

Nusra al-Enezi threw petrol on the tent and set it alight as people celebrated inside. She was hanged in 2017 for the crime, whose victims included many women and children.