Nine Indians and Pakistanis die in Kuwait fire

At least five of the injured are in critical condition.

Nine Asian workers were killed and 12 others injured in a fire Thursday at an old building used to house expat labourers in Kuwait City, the health ministry said.

The ministry, quoted by state news agency KUNA, said all the victims were Indians or Pakistanis. At least five of the injured were in critical condition.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Last week, a blaze at the Gulf state’s central jail killed one inmate and wounded 56 other people, including a fireman. Expatriate workers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, make up around 70 percent of oil-rich Kuwait’s 4.3-million population.