After the tragic fire incident that engulfed 50 people including 45 Indians in Kuwait on June 12, the Kuwait Municipality has now launched a crackdown on illegal property extensions. Over 190 migrant workers were residing in the building at the time and most of the deaths that occurred were due to heavy smoke inhalation. The incident has put the spotlight on a long-standing issue where real estate landlords and company owners, in order to cut costs, give housing to a large number of foreign labourers that end up living in extremely dangerous and unsafe conditions. This violates the law.
For many years, the issue of illegal conversion of property spaces has been a persistent problem in Kuwait. The newspaper report further states that there are many basement areas where the parking space has been turned into warehouses and open ground floors have been turned into shops and housing units. And these spaces are usually transformed without any legal paperwork. The motive behind this is to just make a few extra bucks.
A team from the Indian Embassy visited all 5 hospitals on Friday where around 25 injured Indians are currently receiving medical treatment. The Embassy of India took to X and said that most of these patients are already in touch with their families.
Speaking of the fire that led to the tragic death of so many individuals, was caused by an electric short circuit that happened in the building guard’s room on the ground floor and then quickly spread to other places.