Dubai: Four Indians among 16 killed in residential building fire

The Indian Consulate in Dubai identified four Indians among the victims of a tragic fire in a residential building in Dubai on Saturday Gulf News reportedSixteen people were killed and nine others injured in the blaze which Dubai Civil Defence attributed to a lack of compliance with building security and safety requirementsThe deceased are a couple from Kerala and two men who worked at the building that caught fire in the Deira district on Saturday afternoon an official at the Indian Consulate told Gulf News on Sunday morning Gulf News reportedThe Indian victims identified so far are Rijesh Kalangadan 38 his wife Jeshi Kandamangalath 32 Gudu Saliyakoondu 49 and Imamkasim Abdul Khader 43We have received their passport copies through social worker Naseer Vatanappally We want to express our heartfelt condolences to the families and thank the social workers and others who have reached out with support We are coordinating with the local authorities for the repatriation procedures said Bijender Singh consul Consular and Labour at the consulate Gulf News reported Kalangadan worked as a business development manager with a travel and tourism company while Kandamangalath was a school teacher it was disclosedMeanwhile Saliyakoondus elder brother Saliga Sahib Gudu Basha told Gulf News he was outside the building when his brother was inside insisting on helping out with the rescue of others when he died He claimed it was the same case with Abdul Khader who also hailed from his hometown Gulf News reportedSaliyakoondu and Abdul Khader worked as watchmancumcleaner and paintercumcarpenter respectively I was helplessI could only watch from outside Basha said Basha works as a security guard in a nearby building On hearing about the blaze he said he rushed to the site around 1230 pmAlso Read Japanese PM Fumio Kishida unscathed after smoke bomb hurled at public eventA Pakistani man living on the lower floor of the building told me he had told my brother and his colleague to come out But they refused to leave as they wanted to be of help he said Basha said he watched his brother being rushed to the hospital around 3 pm I also went to the hospital and was told he was declared dead on arrival he saidAccording to Basha Saliyakoondu has worked in Dubai for 26 years and has been with the building for five years He had three children Abdul Kahder also hailed from their native place in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and was working in the building for three years he said adding that he was also married with two children Gulf News reportedPeople call them Rafiq and Imam Their families are back home Imam has got a threemonthold child He had not seen the child He wanted to go home after Ramadan claimed the devastated Basha who is coordinating with the authorities and social workers to repatriate the deceasedAccording to Vatanappaly all victims were identified with the help of relatives friends and colleagues by Sunday noonApart from the four Indians the other victims have been identified as six Sudanese nationals three Pakistani cousins and one each from Jordan Egypt and Cameroon he told Gulf NewsOfficial confirmation of this is awaitedSeeing people identifying their loved ones in this tragedy was heartbreaking I have been flooded with calls as I was the focal point for coordination along with Nisar Pattambi another Indian social worker I left from the police mortuary around 5 am but had to come back in a few hours as we had only identified all the victims at night he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever