Kuwait Al-Mangaf blaze: Agony in Kerala as lives housed in labour camp reduced to ashes

KOCHI: The six-storey Al-Mangaf building in the south of Kuwait City, which is under the lens after a devastating fire killed 49 persons, including over 40 from India, was home to migrant workers of various profiles, from engineers to accountants, and drivers to storekeepers. The fact is that there are labour camps of various types in the Gulf -- from tarpaulin/asbestos sheet covered labour camps to the ones that provide good accommodation and other facilities," said Divya Balan, assistant professor, international studies at Flame University, Pune, who specialises in expatriate issues. Divya, who has done extensive field work by visiting labour camps across the UAE, however, added that most labour camps in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are overcrowded. PP Narayanan, a former community welfare officer at the Indian embassy in Kuwait, though, said that labour camps run by Kerala businessmen in the Gulf have better facilities. Further, labour camps run by Kerala businessmen tend to have better facilities," he said.