KARACHI: Port activities and customs clearance were suspended on Monday as precautionary measures in the wake of mysterious toxic gas which claimed at least five lives.
The unidentified leakage of poisonous gas claimed around five lives and around 100 were faint yester day. The authorities have so far unable to find out the root cause of the gas leakage.
An official at Pakistan Customs said that the Custom House Karachi had been evacuated as precautionary measures as officials were facing breathing problems.
“Not a single person at Custom House Karachi was faint,” said Syed Ifran Ali, senior customs official. “However, taking precautionary measures the Custom House has been evacuated,” he added.
He said that customs clearing has also been suspended and main branch of National Bank at Custom House, Karachi was also closed.
The official said that the port activities had also been suspended while taking precautionary measures.
A day earlier leakage of poisonous gas from unknown place on Sunday killed at least four people and faint many others.
Sources said that the location of gas leakage was still unknown. At first instance it was assumed that a shipped docked at the Karachi Port was main reason for gas leakage. However, port authorities rejected such claims saying no such ship was arrived at the port.
Faisal Edhi of Edhi Foundation has confirmed four deaths due to the incidents. “Two bodies were at Ziauddin Hospital and other two were at Kutyana Memon Hospital,” he said.
Faisal Edhi further said that the effected persons due to gas leakages were brought at the nearby hospitals of Kharadar and Kemari.
Ali Zaidi, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, in a tweet message said that he was shocked on the casualties due to poisonous gas.
“The incident was not occurred at the port. However, officials of Karachi Port Trust (KTP) have been sent to the location for the investigation,” he added.
He requested everyone to refrain from making any comments on the media till the facts are not known.
