Sending bodies of deceased back to their home countries
The Housing Ministry on Friday cleaned the burnt-out debris and started demolishing the house.
Efforts are underway to send the bodies of those who lost their lives in the M. Nirufehi house fire to their respective countries, police said on Friday.
10 people lost their lives in a fire that broke out in the labour quarter of Nirufehi in the wee hours of Thursday in the junction of Iskandhar Magu and Koarukendi Magu in Male. All but one of them have now been identified and they are believed to be from India and Bangladesh.
In a message to the media, the police said:
-
The dead bodies will be returned to their home countries upon the family’s request
-
The police are coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs and the respective embassies to facilitate it
Information regarding the dead bodies have not been revealed yet, but they are:
-
Three Indian women
-
A Bangladeshi woman
-
Four Indian men
-
A Bangladeshi man
-
A man who is yet to be identified
They were labourers who lived in small rooms on two floors, built as labour quarters in the Nirufehi house. The bodies of all of them were retrieved from the building after hours of work.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has directed the authorities to prepare a plan to quickly relocate workshops and garages in Male to industrial zones, and to monitor expatriate accommodations closely.
The Housing Ministry on Friday cleaned the burnt-out debris and started demolishing the house.
Authorities are yet to comment on the cause of the fire, but the government has said it will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
