Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday mourned the death of two Odias, who were among the 45 Indians killed in the Kuwait inferno. The deceased have been identified as Santosh Kumar Gouda and Mahammad Jahur. Jahur was a native of Karadapalli village under Tigiria police station of Cuttack district while Gouda hailed from Ranajhalli village in Ganjam district. They were working for a private company and residing in the seven-storey apartment building in Mangaf at Southern Kuwait where the fire broke out early on Wednesday morning.
Taking to his Twitter handle, the CM wrote: “Several people lost their lives in the terrible fire in Kuwait. It was distressing to hear about the death of 2 Odia sons – Mahammad Jahur and Santosh Gowda. I offer my condolences to the bereaved families and pray to Lord Jagannath for the liberation of the immortal soul.”
Meanwhile, an IAF aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 45 Indians landed in Kochi at 10.30 am. It is expected to reach Delhi at 4 pm from where the bodies of the two Odias will be flown to Odisha in the evening, official sources said.
According to the Indian Embassy, 45 of the 176 Indian workers in the housing facility died and 33 are hospitalised. Among the injured, one died overnight, Kuwait’s foreign minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya told local reporters, taking the number of Indian deaths to 46. The fire also killed three Filipinos while one body is yet to be identified.