Sole breadwinner, Hoshiarpur man was among Kuwait victims

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, June 14

Himmat Rai (63) of Kakkon village in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district was among the 45 Indians killed in the devastating fire that broke out in a seven-storey building in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Yamunanagar man too died in tragedy

Anil Giri (35), alias Tuntun Giri, whose family resided at Vijay Colony in Haryana’s Yamunanagar, was among the Kuwait fire tragedy victims. A Bihar native, Anil’s body was taken to his home state for cremation from the Delhi airport. He is survived his wife Priyanka and two children.

His widow Sarabjit Kaur said Himmat Rai had been working in Kuwait for the past 25 years and that he was the sole breadwinner of the family. “We have three children — a son and two daughters. Our son is currently studying in Class X, while the daughters are married,” said Sarabjit, her voice choking.

The deceased’s son-in-law, Gurpreet Singh, said the information about the death of his father-in-law was given to him by the Hoshiarpur Tehsildar yesterday. “As Himmat Rai was the sole breadwinner, the government must extend financial help to the family so that his son’s future can be secured,” he said.

Asked if any help was being provided to the family, Hoshiarpur SDM Preetinder Singh Bains said, “We have arranged an ambulance to bring Himmat’s body from Delhi.” The mortal remains of 45 Indians, including Himmat and Yamunanagar’s Anil Giri, were brought back from Kuwait in an Air Force plane today. The IAF C-130J plane landed at Kochi in Kerala around 11 am before making another halt at Delhi in the afternoon.

Among the dead were 23 from Kerala, seven from Tamil Nadu, three each from Andhra Pradesh and UP, two from Odisha, one each from Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Haryana.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh was on board the flight. He had arrived in Kuwait in the forenoon on Thursday to coordinate with the Kuwait government to facilitate early repatriation of the mortal remains of the deceased as well as to ensure the well-being of those injured in the fire incident in a labour housing facility in Mangaf on June 12. The fire was caused by short-circuit, the Kuwait Fire Services has said. Of the 176 Indian workers in the housing facility, 45 succumbed to fire.