Sixteen Indians, mostly from Tamil Nadu, were killed and seven others injured when a fire broke out in a building housing over 200 workers in Bahrain.
DUBAI: It is a double tragedy for the poor families of 16 labourers from Tamil Nadu who died of suffocation in an early morning fire in Manama, Bahrain on Sunday. Their families will not be entitled to any monetary benefit or compensation as almost all of them were illegal residents.
When the fire broke out in their overcrowded three storey labour camp in Gudaibiya area in Bahrain at around 2.30 am, the workers were all asleep. The fire believed to have been started by a short circuit broke out on the second floor and not on the ground floor. This ended up saving many more lives.
The Indian Ambassador Balakrishna Shetty told DNA that seven injured Indians were at the Salmaniya hospital in Manama and will be discharged in the evening.
It is a tragic drama being enacted in all the oil-rich-Gulf-Arab states. In Oman, hundreds of illegal Indians are currently being held in military camps in inhuman conditions after being rounded up by the military.
The only solace is that Bahrain has promised to help. “In an unusual gesture of sympathy the Prime Minister of Bahrain Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifah visited the site along with the Labour Minister and the chief of municipal affairs. He has promised all help to the victims of the fire and their families,” said Shetty, who was present during the visit.
“The owner of the company which employed the workers is abroad. The manager, Nadir Khan, is an Indian. The company had packed the camp with more people than it could accommodate,” he said.
Bahrain police say 219 workers lived in the camp but the workers said there were over 300. “Many of them may have run away when the police came as they were illegal,” the ambassador said. The Indians had been duped by recruitment agents to pay Rs 1.25 lakh each for a free visa (irregular employment visa) for a job that promised Bahrain Dinars 100 (Rs 10,000) a month.
But after various unauthorised deductions, the hapless workers got only 20 dinars in hand and being illegal workers were at the mercy of the employers, diplomats said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}