Kuwait fire force saved 135 lives at Al-Mangaf fire-stricken building

By Hammad Al-Mutairi (exclusive interview) KUWAIT, Kuwait Fire Force fighters had scrambled to the building that caught fire earlier in the week and helped save the lives of 135 people including 35 who were whisked out of the burning building on ladders. Instantly upon receiving information about the fire at the apartment building in Al-Mangaf, a fire force squad arrived at the scene in five minutes and successfully doused the flames in less than ten minutes, said Brigadier, Mohammad Al-Gharib, the public relations director and the KFF official spokesman, in an exclusive interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Regarding inspections on irregularities at properties and buildings, he said that the KFF inspection division of the protection sector, had issued, during 2023, up to 22,151 penalties against violations of safety and anti-fire measures, committed by landlords in all of the country's governorates. He added that the acting KFF chief, Lieutenant General Khaled Abdullah Fahad, had given instructions to increase the number of inspectors because of the mounting number of buildings, installations and shopping malls over the past two years. Lt. Gen. Fahad had told KUNA during the aforementioned campaign that within 48 hours, up to 225 non-abiding cases were pinpointed in Al-Mangaf, Mahboula, Khaitan and Jleeb Al-Shoyoukh, affirming the approach to coordinate with other government apparatuses to punish offenders. Up to 49 people had perished in Al-Mangaf building blazes, prompting the leaders to express solace to the victims' next of kin, given prompt orders to the concerned officials to determine the causes of the tragedy and bring those responsible to account. Source: Kuwait News Agency