Rebecca Torr / Gulf Daily News

Manama, Jul 11: Families of 16 workers who died in a labour camp blaze in Gudaibiya are still waiting for compensation almost three years after the tragedy. The courts had awarded four of the victims' families between BD31,000 and BD43,000, but the Royal Tower Construction (RTC) labour quarters owner Salah Abdul Latif Al Abdulla has appealed the decision and the case is ongoing.

Separate civil cases of the other families are still in the courts and verdicts are expected later this year, their lawyer Mohammed Al Watani told the GDN.

"We got a judgment in four cases. The court decided the compensation amount but the owner disagreed," he said.

"The other cases are still going on and each is being tried separately. We hope they will be awarded the same compensation - between BD30,000 and BD40,000. We have agreed on this amount but initially we asked for BD100,000.

"The hearings will continue after the summer vacation. Most of the cases are in the final stages, so we hope they will get it (compensation) by the end of the year."

The 16 Indian workers were killed when a fire broke out in the RTC labour camp at around 2.30am on July 30, 2006.

More than 200 workers crammed into the three-storey building managed to escape.

The four families whose compensation amounts were awarded and are now being appealed are those of Palanimuthu Arumugam, 39, Kannadasan Kumarasamy, 26, Shankar Udayar, 26, and Kumar, 34.

Mr Arumugam's family, including his widow and their two children, were awarded BD43,000; the family of Mr Kumarasamy were awarded BD33,000; Mr Udayar's family were awarded BD40,000; and Mr Kumar's family, including his mother, widow and their two children, were awarded BD31,600.

Mr Al Watani said the cases of the 16 families had been delayed because it had taken time to collect power of attorney documents from them, which were needed before he could act on their behalf.

The cases were filed but were further delayed because a criminal case against Indian supervisor Mohammed Awresh Abdulrahman had to be finalised.

Mr Abdulrahman was jailed for two years in March 2007 after being found guilty of violating safety regulations at the RTC labour quarters.

He was convicted of manslaughter, causing unintentional injuries and violation of labour accommodation safety laws but appealed against the verdict at the Cassation Court.

It meant the civil suit for compensation on behalf of the victims' relatives was put on hold until the criminal case was finally resolved after his appeal was rejected in December last year.

Mr Al Abdulla and Indian supervisor Nishat Nader Khan initially faced similar charges, but were cleared. Mr Al Watani said the families of the victims had suffered so much because of the tragedy. "They are not in a good position, they lost their relatives, their husband or father who supported them - so it was a double tragedy for them - so at least they have to be compensated," he said. "A normal amount of time is being taken to solve these cases. We couldn't proceed before because of the lack of documents, so we can't blame the courts."