Officials said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage.
Nine Indian workers among 10 people died in a fire that swept through cramped lodgings of foreign workers in the Maldives capital Male, the fire service said on Thursday adding that several others were injured in the fire, reports AFP.
Officials said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage.
According to a security official the dead included nine Indians and a Bangladesh national, reports AFP.
“We have found 10 bodies,” a fire service official told AFP, adding that it took them about four hours to put out the fire.
The Indian High Command in Maldives responded to the incident and said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic fire incident in Malé which has caused loss of lives, including reportedly of Indian nationals. We are in close contact with the Maldivian authorities.”
The Indian High Command also listed helpline numbers in a Twitter statement.
Maldivian political parties have criticised conditions for foreign workers.
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They are thought to make up about half of Male’s 250,000-strong population and are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Their poor living conditions were brought to light during the Covid-19 pandemic when the infection spread three times faster among foreign workers compared with locals.
The capital of the archipelago best known as an upmarket holiday destination is one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
(With inputs from AFP)
