Catholic bishops in a south-ern Indian state have expressed their condolences to the families of 49 expatriate workers, most of them Indians, killed in a fire mishap in Kuwait. A major fire broke out in a six-story building in the Mafreg area in southern Kuwait on June 12. Nearly 150 people were living in the block when the fire broke out on the ground floor. The cause of the fire is unknown but the presence of more than 20 cooking gas cy-linders in the overcrowded build-ing caused it to spread quickly. Kuwait’s interior ministry has reported 49 deaths. Among them, 42 are Indians and others are from Egypt, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Most victims died due to suffocation while 50 others sustained injuries. “Twenty-four of them were from Kerala state and many of them are Christians,” Fr Jacob Palakkappilly, spokes-person of the regional Kerala Ca-tholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), told on June 13. “It is really heartbreaking,” the KCBC said in a statement on June 13. The loss their families suffered is be-yond words, the bishops observed. “The Catholic Church shares the grief of the family members,” added the bishops. They were the breadwinners of their families, said Fr Palakkappilly, and added that we are waiting for more details. The Kerala government has announced compensation to each family and has sent its health minister Veena George to Kuwait. The Indian government has rushed federal minister Kirti Vardhan Singh to Kuwait. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condo-lences and announced compen-sation for the victim’s families. “My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured re-cover at the earliest,” he said. Low-paid, blue-collar workers from Asian nations live in over-crowded accommodations in the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations. Kuwait relies hea-vily on foreign labor in industries like construction. Kerala is known for migrant workers. Among its 33 million people, close to 3 million people are expatriates, according to reports.