Bodies of 45 Kuwait building fire victims arrive at Delhi’s Palam airport
New Delhi, June 14: The Indian Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft, carrying the mortal remains of the victims in the Kuwait building fire tragedy, arrived at Palam Technical Airport on Friday. BJP MPs Yogendra Chandolia, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Bansuri Swaraj and other leaders were present at the airport to receive the mortal remains.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said usually it took 10-15 days, but at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and EAM Jaishankar’s request, they had been able to bring the mortal remains of those Indian nationals who lost their lives in the deadly building fire incident.
“Usually it takes 10-15 days, but at the request of PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar, we have been able to bring the mortal remains of those 45 Indian nationals,” he said.
“It is a very sad incident,” Kirti Vardhan Singh said, adding that PM Modi got worried after hearing the news and urgently called a meeting and sent them to Kuwait.
“Our External Affairs Minister spoke to the Foreign Minister of Kuwait, we met the Foreign Minister and Health Minister there, and they cooperated with us a lot. We met the injured in the hospital. The doctors assured us that the injured people will be recovered soon,” he added.
The MoS said most of the injured people, who were getting treated in the hospitals of Kuwait, would be discharged in a day or two, adding that the condition of one person was critical.
“Most of the people will be discharged in 1-2 days, one person is serious and is admitted to ICU…,” he said.
The minister said the smoke from the fire billowed in people’s lungs, which caused them injuries, but they were getting treated over there. “Some people have fractures in their hands and legs, and they are being treated,” he said.
The embassy is monitoring the situation, said the minister, adding that they were in touch with the injured people.
“Our embassy is constantly in touch with the injured and they are monitoring the situation…The Kuwaiti government has been cooperative, due to which we have been able to bring the bodies of the deceased here so quickly,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the MoS said when the Indian team of officials reached Kuwait, PM Modi had already spoken to the authorities, the foreign minister there and the Emir of Kuwait.
At least 45 Indians were killed in the fire incident, and 31 bodies of victims from Kerala (23), Tamil Nadu (7), and Karnataka (1) were brought via a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Kerala’s Kochi on Friday.
Seven of them belonged to Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab, and West Bengal, in addition to 23 from Kerala.