Bhubaneswar: A special Air Force aircraft, carrying bodies of 45 Indians, including two from Odisha, who died in a massive fire in Kuwait two days ago, arrived at Cochin International Airport around 10.30 am on Friday.
The mortal remains of the victims from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will be received in Kochi by their respective state governments and then the flight will leave for Delhi with those from other states.
Authorities have identified the two deceased from Odisha as Santosh Kumar Gouda and Mahammad Jahur. Jahur was a native of Karadapalli village under Tigiria police station of Cuttack district. Gouda hailed from Ranajhalli village in Ganjam district. They were working for a private company and residing in the seven-storey apartment building in Mangaf at Southern Kuwait where the fire broke out early on Wednesday morning.
Mortal remains of Jahur and Gouda will be sent to Odisha from Delhi by evening, official sources said.
Other killed include include 23 from Kerala, seven from Tamil Nadu, three from Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Haryana. The victims include engineers, drivers, supervisors and other professionals. A majority of them worked for NBTC, the largest construction firm in the Gulf country. The building which caught fire due to an electrical short circuit also belonged to NBTC.
Meanwhile, one of the injured died overnight, Kuwait’s foreign minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya told local reporters, taking the number of Indian deaths to 46. The fire also killed three Filipinos while one body is yet to be identified.
“The two persons, who weren’t identified, are being held on several charges, including “killing and injury by error due to negligence of security and safety precautions against fires”, the public prosecutor’s office said on X.
