11 migrant workers die in Saudi house fire

Eleven migrant labourers died of asphyxiation in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in a fire that engulfed the windowless house they shared, Saudi authorities said.

"Firefighters put out a blaze in an old house lacking windows for ventilation. Eleven people died of asphyxiation, and six others were injured" in the southern province of Najran, the civil defence said in a tweet. The casualties all hailed from India and Bangladesh, it said.

Nine million foreigners work in the kingdom, many of them from South Asia, according to the last official figures released in 2015.

The region's governor, Prince Jluwi bin Abdulaziz bin Musaed, ordered the formation of a committee to probe the fire incident, the Arab News reported. The governor's office will be supervising the committee, which will include representatives from the Civil Defense, Municipality and the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

Prince Jluwi expressed extreme resentment at the absence of control over foreign workers' residences and the role of field teams of the Civil Defence and the Municipality, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

Source: Khaleej Times