At least 42 Indians were among the 48 people who were killed in a tragic Kuwait building fire and efforts are on to bring the bodies back to India, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told reporters before he he left for the West Asian country to oversee assistance to Indians there.
“The latest figures that we had last night, the casualty figures are around 48-49 out of this 42 or 43 are believed to be Indians,” he said.
Singh informed that the bodies of the victims were charred beyond recognition and DNA tests were underway to ascertain their identities.
“The situation is that the victims are mostly burn victims and some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition. So a DNA test is underway to identify the victims,” he said.
The government has put Indian Air Forces planes on standby and as soon as the bodies are identified, they will be repatriated.
“An Air Force plane is on standby. As soon as the bodies are identified, the kin will be informed and our Air Force plane will bring the bodies back…” the MoS said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a review meeting on the Kuwait fire tragedy and directed officials to extend all the possible assistance.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, his deputy Kirti Vardhan Singh, Principal Secretary to PM Pramod Kumar Mishra, NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra were also present during the meeting.