Fire kills five of a Bangladeshi family in Kuwait

A Bangladeshi woman and her four children were killed after a fire broke out in a building in Salmiya area of Kuwait yesterday, reports the Kuwait Times, a local English daily.

Firefighters rushed to the five-storey building in response to an emergency call and managed to rescue nine people who were trapped in thick smoke.

But the five, who were found in critical condition, died on the way to Mubarak Hospital, the daily said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the fire started in a fourth-floor apartment, and smoke trapped the Bangladeshi family inside their fifth-floor apartment, while help was too late to get to them, it said.

Contacted over the phone early today, Mohamad Ibrahim, head of international news department of Al Rai daily newspaper, told The Daily Star the victims were Bangladeshis.

But further details of the victims could not be known immediately.

A case was filed in connection with the incident.