At least 41 people have been killed in a fire that tore through a high-rise building housing migrant workers in the city of Mangaf in southern Kuwait on Wednesday.

Some 10 Indian nationals, including five from the southern state of Kerala, were killed in the fire.

The building, reportedly owned by a businessman from Kerala, housed 195 migrant labourers mostly from India, according to Onmanorama.

“We always alert and warn against” cramming too many workers into housing accommodation, the police said.

The building’s owner has been detained pending an investigation into potential negligence, he said.

He accused “greedy” real estate owners of code violations which ultimately contributed to the fire deaths. “Unfortunately, the greed of real estate owners is what leads to these matters,” he said.

Kuwait, like other Gulf nations, is host to hundreds of thousands of Indian migrant workers, who often remit much of what they earn to families back home and live in extremely crampt conditions.

Indian nationals make up for 21 per cent of Kuwait’s 4.2 million population and nearly 30 per cent of its workforce.