11 Indian, Bangladeshi workers die in Saudi building fire

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia says 11 South Asian workers have died in a fire that engulfed the building where they lived.

The kingdom’s civil defence says the fire, which broke out Wednesday in the southwestern city of Najran, injured another six. Saudi media, quoting civil defence, say the victims were from India and Bangladesh.

Nearly a third of Saudi Arabia’s population, or around 9 million people, are foreigners, many of them South Asian migrant workers who take jobs in construction.

The Saudi Press Agency says the governor of Najran expressed his “disappointment on the lack of control” over the lodgings of expatriates and questioned the work of field inspection teams there.

India’s Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter that embassy staff were heading to Najran to seek more details.