MANAMA, 31 July 2006 — A fire broke out in a three-story building in Manama in the early morning hours of yesterday killing sixteen Indian workers and injuring seven others. In all nearly 200 others were rescued from the inferno by firemen. The top floor of the building caught fire at around 2.30 a.m. trapping many of the immigrant workers, who hail mainly from Madras city in India, as they slept.

Some of the workers managed to escape including at least two who jumped from the windows. Firemen managed to rescue and evacuate nearly 200 people from the building that is used as a workers’ housing unit for a local construction company.

The fire crews discovered the 16 bodies on the top floor during search and rescue operations inside the building as they were extinguishing the fire.

Sources said that one body was burned, while the others died mainly of smoke inhalation. The building was located behind the Omar Al-Khayam Hotel in Manama’s outlying suburb of Qudhaybia, a neighborhood packed with Indian immigrants and other low-paid laborers.

An official at the Indian Embassy in Manama confirmed that the dead were Indian nationals. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Initial reports said as many as 300 people lived in the building, but the number was difficult to confirm because many are thought to be illegal immigrants working without proper permits.

“The fire took us by surprise, I was asleep when the firemen broke into our room and started evacuating us,” one of the rescued workers said. “We usually get up at 5 a.m. and don’t get back from work until 7 p.m. So most of the workers were tired and asleep when the fire started in the building.” Ambulances shifted seven workers aged between 23 and 39 to a nearby hospital for treatment after sustaining non-life threatening injuries. Some other workers were treated on the scene for light injuries and smoke inhalation.

— With input from agencies