Forty-one NRI expats are victims of the  fire that broke out in a building in south Kuwait which killed 49 people.

The Indian ambassador was at the hospital treating the wounded. Reports said 41 people were injured in the tragedy.

Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar posted on X that he was “deeply shocked by the news” and offered “deepest condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives”.

The building’s owner has been detained in an investigation into potential negligence, Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef said as he visited the scene.

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said the inferno was first reported at 6am local time at the building in Mangaf in the southern Ahmadi governorate.

Kuwaiti Minister of Public Works and Minister of Municipality Dr. Noura Al-Mashaan suspended administrators at Al Ahmadi Municipal branch after the incident.

In a statement to KUNA, Dr. Al-Mashaan said that she instructed the Municipality to open a full investigation into the matter.

Director General of Kuwait Municipality Saud Al-Dabbous expressed condolences to the families of the victims, and added that an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the blaze.

Images from the scene showed soot blackening the exterior of the six-storey building which housed 196 workers, according to information given to the 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.

According to a source in the General Fire Department, the victims suffocated from rising smoke after the fire broke out on the ground floor. Forensic teams are working at the site and have identified three bodies so far, Owaihan said. – editor@nrifocus.com