A Nepali woman has died while trying to escape confinement in Kuwait. The deceased identified as Anita Shakya of Kathmandu had been held captive at a building based in Hawally, Kuwait, by a manpower agent.

It has been learnt that human traffickers had taken her to Kuwait via India on October 16. She tried to escape the confinement by jumping off the window of the building where she was held captive.

“Police have described Anita’s death as suicide,” Nepali ambassador to Kuwait Yagya Bahadur Hamal said, “Nepali Embassy has been taking initiatives to dispatch the body to Nepal.”

Though Nepal government has imposed banned women from working in the Gulf countries, human traffickers use various channels to traffick them to the countries. The Embassy has not been able to take initiatives to take action against the manpower company because the Kuwait government has made it legal to import domestic workers.

According to ambassador Hamal, nearly four Nepali housemaids have died in the past one month. “It seems the efforts on the embassy’s part alone won’t be enough to curb the deaths of migrant workers,” he said. “We are sad about the increasing death rate of migrant workers.”

Basanti Urab, of Sunsari, Ambabari Rajbanshi and Baha Marmu, both from Jhapa, are the others who died in the past one month. Their deaths have been attributed to heart attack.  Baha Murmu, 29, of Shivasatashi Municipality, died due to lack of timely treatment.

According to ambassador Hamal, around 28 Nepali migrant workers are taking shelter at Nepali Embassy. The embassy has been making preparations to repatriate them. It is estimated that around 23,000 Nepali migrants work as housemaids in Kuwait.