Bhubaneswar: A delegation of the state government including Deputy Chief Ministers Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo and Pravati Parida Saturday paid homage to two workers from Odisha killed in Kuwait fire tragedy at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar.
A special aircraft carrying the mortal remains of two workers landed at BPIA airport Saturday. At the airport, the mortal remains were placed for a while for people to pay their last respects after which the bodies were handed over to the relatives of the deceased.
A compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the family members of both victims has been announced by the state government.
The two victims were identified as Muhammad Jahur and Santosh Kumar Gouda
Gouda hailed from Ranajhalli village in Purosottampur block of Ganjam district, while Jahur was a native of Karadapalli village in Tigiria police limits in Cuttack district.
They were working for a private company and residing in the seven-storey apartment building in Mangaf in southern Kuwait where the fire broke out early Wednesday morning killing 45 Indians.
Jahur’s family members said he was married for only two years and his wife was seven-months pregnant. He had been working in Kuwait since 2017 and had visited his village only a month ago.
Similarly, Gouda had visited his village in March and had returned to Kuwait in April.
A special Air Force aircraft carrying the mortal remains of 45 Indians landed in Kochi Friday and later flew to Delhi.
The victims include 23 from Kerala, seven from Tamil Nadu, three each from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, two from Odisha, and one each from Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Haryana.
A massive fire erupted in a six-storey building in Kuwait’s Mangaf city Wednesday, killing at least 49 people.
The Indian embassy said that 176 Indian workers were in the housing facility, 45 of them died and 33 were hospitalised.
PNN