Kuwait accountant shifted to fateful bldg driven out by poor mess facility

MUMBAI: Family and friends of Denny Karunakaran, 33, the NBTC accountant who was killed in the June 12 fire in Kuwait, received his body when it arrived in the city shortly after 3am Saturday. His remains have been stored at Shatabdi Hospital, Kandivli, until the funeral Sunday.
His father Baby, sister Daisy and her husband Manoj, apart from Denny's childhood friends and churchgoers from Malwani, Malad, will lay him to rest beside his mother at Charkop Christian cemetery Sunday.
Daisy said Saturday, “My brother’s face was recognisable, not charred but blackened — perhaps due to soot from the fire or chemical preservatives. In fact, my husband, who also works in Kuwait, had visited the hospital and morgue there to look for him, but the authorities did not show him Denny’s body. They were showing many other people the corpses. So we were not certain of Denny’s death, let alone whether he died of burns or asphyxiation.”
Destiny played its hand to utmost finality. Denny, in fact, lived in another building in Kuwait. “But he was unhappy with the food quality at that mess and often suffered skin infections, so he would forgo his meals and just survive on an apple or a piece of fruit. Later, he chose to shift to this particular labour camp where, sadly, the fire claimed him,” said Daisy.
The family was upset with the Indian embassy in Kuwait for the “delay in releasing information”. “They were unable to inform us if Denny was present in that building or whether his name figured on the list of injured or dead. They were waiting for the Kuwaiti authorities to verify every detail. We only learnt of his death when the list of deceased persons was released on the evening of June 13,” said Daisy.
Indeed, TOI had rung the helpline number issued by the Indian embassy on June 12, seeking a list of dead and injured Indians. The spokesman replied that they were waiting for the Kuwaiti ministry to issue a full list of victims involving multiple nationalities. He cited concerns of accuracy as well as international protocol. Indian officials were visiting various hospitals to seek details, but their list would be anecdotal and subject to error.
Daisy last met Denny in 2022, four years after he migrated to Kuwait. “He visited friends in our childhood colony in Malwani — he didn’t like Virar. He was a compassionate gentleman. A teddy bear! To outsiders, he may have seemed ‘ghamandi’ (arrogant). But he was like a coconut, hard on the exterior yet soft at the core. He was so fond of my children, especially my elder son. I am consoling my children and my old father,” she said.