Al-Mangaf fire tragedy: The human cost of working in Kuwait

The devastating fire in the multi-storied Al-Mangaf ‘labour camp’ building in Kuwait City, which killed an estimated 50 residents—most of them Indians—has again highlighted the poor living conditions of Indian migrant workers in the country and the wider Gulf region. An ongoing investigation by the interior ministry of Kuwait has indicated that the apartment complex, housing close to 200 individuals, apparently lacked basic safety standards required for a large number of people to stay in.

Of the 46 Indians who died in the tragedy, 24 were from Kerala and seven from Tamil Nadu. The others belonged to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Haryana. The victims from Kerala include both people working in the Gulf for years and those who recently got overseas career breaks.

All 46 bodies were flown back home by the Indian Air Force, first to Kochi, where Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, Union minister and Thrissur MP Suresh Gopi and others paid homage.

The victims of the tragedy were reportedly employees of the NBTC Group, whose managing director K.G Abraham is a non-resident Keralite (NRK) businessman. He has been in the contracting business in Kuwait since the mid-1980s. The Al-Mangaf building reportedly housed NBTC employees.

The NBTC group, in a press release on June 14, said the accident was due to a short circuit on the ground floor of the building and that the premises had mandatory safety measures.

Indians are among the largest workforces in the Gulf, earning better than they would possibly do back home but often surviving in questionable living conditions. “Many labour camps or housing complexes provided to migrant workers in Kuwait lack basic safety measures. They are certainly better than the worker camps in other parts of the Gulf. While the Kuwait authorities have started a fire and safety audit in the labour camps, the Indian government must visit our labour camps to prevent such tragedies in the future,” a worker from Kerala, who has been employed in Kuwait for a decade now, told INDIA TODAY on condition of anonymity.

The worker said migrants do not lodge complaints or demand better housing for fear of loss of jobs. “Workers from the Philippines get better treatment as their missions visit the camps and intervene in matters. For Indians, there is none to care,” he claimed.

As another NRK worker in Kuwait, whom INDIA TODAY reached out to, said: “After the fire tragedy, surprise checks were ordered and Indian workers were shifted to better housing complexes. However, since the employers are powerful, nothing is going to happen to them.”

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, while condoling the death of Indians workers in Kuwait, has said that “the condition of our workers in the Middle East is a serious matter of concern”. “The Indian government, working alongside its counterparts, must prioritise the safety of our citizens and ensure dignified living standards,” he said.

An estimated one million Indians work in Kuwait, accounting for a fifth of its population and 30 per cent of the workforce. They are the largest migrant worker segment in the country. Around 600,000 out of them are from Kerala. Indian workers dominate both private and domestic sectors. The Kuwaiti medical community has some 1,000 Indian doctors, 500 dentists and 24,000 nurses.

Top Kuwait ministers have led an inspection campaign targeting illegal properties in the country and some officials of the municipality where the ill-fated building stood have been suspended. But more will need to be done to protect the interests of migrant Indian workers. Indians back home will be looking to the Narendra Modi government to exercise its goodwill and influence in the Gulf to ensure a better work-and-live ecosystem for its citizens.

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