16 Indian Workers die following Fire in Building Crammed with 200 workers
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 01080600
16 Indian Workers die following Fire in Building Crammed with 200 workers
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 01080600
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights received with great concern, the news of the death of 16 Indian workers following a fire in a three storey building in Gudaibiya at 2:30 AM on Sunday the 30th of July, 2006. According to the Bahraini Gulf Daily News, the building is said to have accommodated over 200 workers, 196 of them escaped while 11 were moved to the hospital for treatment. The Bahraini Premier stated that Municipal Officers had warned the company leasing the building that the condition of the building was dangerous last January, but that the company had done nothing in regards.
Although the Cabinet has ordered an enquiry into the accident, the BCHR feels that this is insufficient and there is an urgent need to improve working conditions as well as insure the safety of Migrant Workers in Bahrain, as there seems to be a recurring pattern of fatal accidents amongst the lower paid migrant workers. The Ministry must take upon itself the responsibility of insuring that health and safety conditions are met by all companies operating in Bahrain, and a crackdown on offenders is deemed necessary. The working condition that many migrant workers have to live in violate international working standards that deem safety and security as a necessity in the working environment. It falls upon the Ministry and the authorities in Bahrain to regulate and monitor companies, and not rely solely on warning companies without follow up and without penalizing offenders who place so little value upon the lives of their under paid laborers. Furthermore the BCHR calls upon the embassies of all Migrant Workers to play a more positive role in insuring that their citizens who come to Bahrain as migrant workers are placed in suitable working environments and that they require of the Bahraini authorities to take the matter of penalizing offenders seriously.
The Bahraini community needs to play a more active role in prohibiting companies from abusing migrant workers and underpaid workers. Bahrainis should take a stance against all companies who refuse to maintain a reasonable standard of security and safety for its employees by refusing to cooperate with them and by openly condemning their disregard for the sanctity of human life.