13 TN workers injured in Sudan fire safe: MEA

Thirty-three Indians, including 13 from Tamil Nadu, injured in the blast at a ceramic factory in the Sudanese capital Khartoum are reportedly safe and are accommodated at the Saloomi factory residence, the government said on Friday. While two from Tamil Nadu are hospitalised, three from the state are still missing.

Meanwhile, six of the Indian workers killed in the blast on December 3 have been identified, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

The Indian Embassy has listed 15 Indians as “missing or unidentified” and one from Bihar as “confirmed dead”. It has listed seven as admitted in a hospital.

Kumar said there were 58 workers in the ceramic factory, ‘’Saloomi’’ in the Bahri area of Khartoum, at the time of the LPG tanker blast. Thirty-three Indians, who were in the factory at the time, are safe.

The Indian Embassy in Khartoum is working closely with the local government and the Indian Ambassador has visited the Indians there, and the families of those killed and injured, Kumar said.

The Indian mission is trying to repatriate the bodies early, he added.

The 33 Indians, accommodated safely at the Saloomi factory residence, also include two from Bihar, seven from UP, two from Madhya Pradesh, two from Delhi, two from Haryana, two from Rajasthan, and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Assam.

 While three from Bihar are still missing and one is listed as “confirmed dead”, four from UP are listed as missing and one hospitalised, two from Haryana are missing and one in hospital, one from Rajasthan is missing while three are in hospital, and one each from Delhi and Gujarat are listed as missing, according to the Indian Embassy.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, in a statement, has condoled the deaths and said that preliminary reports indicate the absence of necessary safety tools.

 “The random storage of flammable materials contributed to the continuation and expansion of the fire and the destruction of the factory completely,” he said.

He said the Council of Ministers would form a committee “to determine the responsibilities and avoid the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents inthe future”.