Over 100 hospitalized after gas leak at chemical factory in Karachi

KARACHI: At least 100 people were hospitalized due to suffocation caused by gas leakage at a chemical factory in Karachi’s Port Qasim area, ARY News reported.

As per details, the incident occurred after a gas pipeline burst at factory.

Rescue sources said that over 80 patients were shifted to Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), while two people are in critical condition.

The spokesperson of the chemical factory said that the situation is under control and no human loss was reported in the gas leakage incident. He said that all people affected due to gas leak have been shifted to nearby hospitals.

“The company’s technical team is investigating the chemical gas leak matter,” he added.

Moreover, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and directed authorities to halt the company’s operation.

Read More: Mysterious gas kills several people in Karachi’s Kemari, scores hospitalised

Earlier, the suspected gas leakage in Karachi Keemari had killed at least 14 people and affected more than 300 people, including women and children.

The Global Environmental Labs (GEL) in its initial report claims that the air in the port area of Kemari has registered an extraordinary increase in the amount of sulfur dioxide presence.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a pungent corrosive gas that arises predominantly from the burning of coal or crude oil in power plants and from factories that produce chemicals, paper, or fuel.

The lab revealed that the normal ranges of the chemical present in the air are around 120 per cent which had been bumped up to a whopping 1420 per cent since the incident was first reported.