Amir condoles families of victims, thanks first responders

KUWAIT: Emergency and rescue personnel are seen at the scene of a bus crash on Wafra highway yesterday.

KUWAIT: Fifteen oil workers, most of them from the Indian subcontinent, were killed yesterday in a head-on collision between two buses on the southern Wafra highway, officials said. Seven of those killed were Indian nationals, five were Egyptians and the other three were from Pakistan, said Mohammed Al-Basri of the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). An Indian - in critical condition - and a Kuwaiti were also injured in the accident.

Fire department spokesman Colonel Khalil Al-Amir said the victims were employees of Burgan Drilling, a private subcontractor for KOC. The fire department added that rescue teams from Kabd, Wafra, backup and KOC fire stations rushed to the scene, and the two injured men were transferred to hospital by land and air ambulances.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday sent cables of condolences to the families of the victims. The Amir also thanked policemen, firemen, Kuwait Oil Company and the health ministry in the way they dealt with the tragic accident. HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun and Meshaal Al-Enezi