TEHRAN (Iran News) – An apparent gas leak killed at least 14 people near the Pakistan port city of Karachi, officials said Tuesday, as investigators worked to determine the source of the deadly emission.
Residents of Keamari in Pakistan, a commercial and residential area, began falling sick Sunday on apparently a toxic gas leak, officials said.
A doctor at one hospital, who asked not to be named, said 250 people had been admitted for treatment, after complaining of breathing difficulties and burning eyes after the mysterious emission.
Local health ministry spokesman Zafar Mehdi told AFP that 14 people had died at various hospitals due to breathing in the environment influenced by the toxic gas.
At the state-run Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Center, about 35 people arrived for emergency treatment.
“Most of the patients were suffering from choking and breathlessness,” Seemin Jamali, who heads the emergency department, told AFP.
Authorities initially suspected some sort of gas could have leaked from the port, but the Karachi Port Trust denied that was the case.
“All the casualties took place outside the port, and our facility is clean,” a port spokesman said.
Authorities have sought help from the navy’s chemical and biological department, according to Nasir Shah, the provincial information minister.
- source : PressTV, Iran News
