An employee of Reuters, his wife and their two children were killed in a fire that broke out at their apartment in Kuwait City. The tragic incident took place late on July 19, the same day they returned from Kerala after vacation, local authorities said.
According to a report published by The Arab Times, the Indian couple — identified as Mathews Mulackal and his wife Lini Abraham — and their two children suffocated to death due to the fire caused by a short circuit in the air conditioner around 8 pm in their second-floor flat in Abbasiya area. They were all from Alappuzha district’s Neerattupuram.
“The family had returned to Kuwait from a vacation in Kerala, arriving around 4 pm local time on Friday (July 19). Mathews Mulackal worked at Reuters, while his wife Lini was a staff nurse at Adan Hospital in Al Ahmadi Governorate. Their children attended Bhavans School in Kuwait,” the newspaper said.
The Indian Embassy in Kuwait said it is in touch with the family in Kerala and will ensure the early repatriation of the mortal remains of the four Indians. “Mathew has been working there for the past 15 years. They left for Kuwait after their vacation on Thursday night (July 18) from Nedumbassery Airport,” a relative told the media in Kerala on Saturday (July 20).
The accident comes close on the heels of a devastating fire accident that claimed the lives of 45 Indians in a labour accommodation last month.