MALDIVES: Eight Indians were among 10 migrant workers killed in a fire that broke out in a garage below their cramped living quarters in the Maldivian capital of Male in the early hours of Thursday. The quarters, which have just a single window, accommodate 38 migrants. All of them were in the building when the fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded.
The fire broke out in the M.Nirufehi area near the Maaveyo Mosque around 12:30 am, according to news portal SunOnline international.
An official of the Male National Defence Force (MNDF) said the bodies of the dead have been charred beyond recognition. Their identities are yet to be ascertained.
Twenty-eight of them have been rescued. Seven of them were found dead, while two were taken to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital with severe burns, it said.
The fire was doused at 04:34 am, it added.
However, MNDF Chief Executive Hisan Hassan said the deceased include migrants from India and Bangladesh. “There were a lot of gas cylinders here. Different types of gas. The garage was located on the ground floor. We, therefore, found it very challenging to fight the fire,” Colonel Ibrahim Rasheed, Commandant, MNDF Fire and Rescue Service, said.
‘This place stores many cylinders. Some cylinders as tall as me,” he added. It is yet to be ascertained which local employer was providing accommodation for the expatriates, or what line of work they were doing.
The owner of the garage reportedly told authorities that the fire could have been caused by the explosion of a cylinder near the wooden staircase that led to the rooms above. However, Maldives National Disaster Authority (MNDA) officials were quoted as saying by local media that there were gas cylinders placed next to the beds inside the migrant quarters.
Responding to the incident, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “Deeply grieved by the tragic loss of lives in a fire incident in Male. Full details regarding Indians are being ascertained by the Indian High Commission who are in touch with the affected families.” Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid has spoken with Jaishankar and expressed his condolences and assured him that a full investigation was underway to ascertain the cause of the incident.
Male, the capital of the archipelago best known as an upmarket holiday destination is one of the world's most densely populated cities.
Officials said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage. It took four hours to douse the fire.
The garage is located on the ground floor, while the first-floor housed migrant workers. The living quarters had only a single window, the report said.
Two fires were reported at the garage, the last of which took place two months back, the report added.
Foreign workers constitute about half of Male's 250,000-strong population, who are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Maldivian political parties have criticised conditions for foreign workers.
Their poor living conditions were brought to light during the Covid-19 pandemic when the infection spread three times faster among foreign workers compared with locals.
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(With PTI and ANI inputs)