Male, Nov 10 (IANS) At least 10 people, including nine Indians, were killed and several others injured when a fire swept through cramped lodgings of foreign workers in Male, the Maldivian fire service said.
Officials said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage, local media reported.
He added that it took them about four hours to put out the fire.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic fire incident in Male which has caused loss of lives, including reportedly of Indian nationals. We are in close contact with the Maldivian authorities," the Indian High Commission in Male tweeted.
An evacuation centre has been set up in a nearby stadium, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Maldives said.
"NDMA has established an evacuation centre in Maafannu Stadium for those displaced and affected by the fire in Male. Arrangements are being made to provide relief assistance and support."
The Maldivian capital, best known as an upmarket tourist destination, is one of the world's most densely populated cities.
Foreign workers make up about half of Male's 250,000-strong population and are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Their poor living conditions of foreign workers was found out during the Covid-19 pandemic when the infection spread three times faster among foreign workers compared with locals.
Approximately 29,000 Indians live and work in the Maldives and almost 22,000 of them live in Male, the capital city.
They comprise nurses, teachers, managers, doctors, engineers, accountants and other professionals.
On Monday, Gandhi was questioned by agency officials for several hours. He was given a lunch break after three hours, and went to meet his mother, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is undergoing treatment at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The accused are habitual offenders and targeted lonely women wearing gold chains and committed the snatching in isolated places. After coming out from the prison, they took to chain snatching as a gang. They sold gold chains and spent all the money on sex workers and other luxuries. Further investigation is on.
Police, after interrogating Fernandes, the mastermind behind setting up the fake call centre in a rented bungalow at old Goa, said that the accused persons, operating from the hacked accounts of Amazon, defrauded several US citizens to share confidential gift card details of values ranging from $500 to $1,000 USD in exchange of restoring wallet balances.
Ranu's family, a resident of Bhatinda town, claimed that they had handed him over to the police. Meanwhile, a Red Corner Notice (RCN) has been issued against Canada-based gangster Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar wanted in the killing of Moosewala.
Jasdeep Singh aka hagwanpuria is infamous for his criminal activities mostly in the Majha area of Punjab. Jaggu and his gang were the main accused in the killing of the son of a Sarpanch in Dhianpur village on Diwali night.
The identity of the two accused shooters -- Santosh Yadav and Nav Nath Suryawanshi -- was revealed during the interrogation of their close aide, Sidhesh Hiraman Kamle a.k.a. Mahakaal, who was arrested from Pune during a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Maharashtra Police.
