The Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait has said on Wednesday that no Bangladeshis lived in Kuwait building that caught fire in Mangaf city where at least 41 people were killed on Wednesday morning.
"We have no information so far that any Bangladeshi workers lived in that residential building," Abdul Hossain, labour councillor of the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait, told media on Wednesday noon.
Moreover, the workers who live there do not have any job demand letter attested by the Bangladesh Embassy, he said adding that it means that no Bangladeshis are living in that building and no Bangladeshis were injured or killed in the incident.
"Bangladeshis mainly work in the cleaning sector and Indians and Nepalis in the construction sector," Abdul said, adding that he had visited the fire site. Abdul said the Bangladesh embassy is monitoring the issue and in a close contract with the local police to know the updates of the incident.
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.
The nationalities of the victims have not been announced but the Indian ambassador, when contacted by AFP, said he was at the hospital visiting survivors.
Indias 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 buildings owner has been detained in an investigation into potential negligence, interior minister Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef said as he visited the scene.
We will work to address the issue of labour overcrowding and neglect, the minister said. We will detain the owner of the property where the fire broke out until legal procedures are completed, he said.
The blaze is one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the worlds oil reserves.
Meanwhile, Kuwaits Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah accused the real estate owners of violations and greed over the fire incident, saying those factors contributed towards the incident.
"Unfortunately, the greed of real estate owners is what leads to these matters," said Sheikh Fahad, who also runs the interior and defence ministries.
Globally, Bangladesh secured the 9th highest position in remittance earnings, however, 77 per cent of the total remittance earnings come from the Gulf Countries which include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
