Daily Times

As actual cause of toxic gas leak remained elusive, authorities were on Wednesday still investigating if exposure to soybean dust, which can cause severe allergic reactions, is responsible for at least 14 deaths and dozens of illnesses in Karachi.

A vessel carrying a soybean shipment was to be shifted from Karachi Port to Port Qasim, said Karachi Port Trust (KPT) spokesperson Mohammad Shariq on Wednesday after the government was advised to consider the ‘exposure to soybean dust’ as a cause for breathing difficulties being faced by the residents of Karachi’s Keamari area. The KPT spokesperson said authorities had decided to move the ship during the morning but decided against it due to the low tide. “Currently, preparations are underway to shift the ship during high tide,” he said.

A police official requesting to remain anonymous said the situation in the area is now ‘normal’. “The severity of the reactions and the number of patients have reduced ever since authorities halted the unloading activities from ship,” he said.

The Sindh Health Department Wednesday said that soybean dust is the reason for the respiratory illness incident in Karachi. A health advisory issued by the provincial government said, “As per observations of experts and ICCBS report it is a form of severe Allergy which causes severe asthma attack in persons who come into direct contact with Soya Dust.” The advisory said that the soybean dust causes Anaphylactic Shock and death in persons who are already asthmatic.

However, a top government doctor suggested that a toxic fumigant used in pesticides and fumigation may be behind the ‘toxic gas spill’ mystery in Karachi’s Keamari locality.

Dr Seemi Jamali, the executive director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), said the mysterious gas could be Methyl Bromide. “It was not Hydrogen Sulfide for sure, but it could also be Methyl Bromide,” she said.

Meanwhile, Director General (Quarantine) Department Plant Protection Dr Falak Naz dismissed reports of an overexposure to soybean dust as the possible cause for the health emergency.

She was referring to results of a preliminary report submitted by the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at the Karachi University.

The official said the department had run checks on the American ship carrying soybean and found no hazardous elements in the specimens checked. She added that soybean is treated with phosphine pills at docks in the United States, but the effects wear off by the time the ship reaches a destination as far as Karachi port. “It was not treated with pesticide spray at the time of unloading because the agricultural product was already insect-free.”

Following the deaths of more than a dozen Karachi residents and scores being hospitalised due to air toxicity, unloading of soybean at Karachi Port was halted Wednesday morning as the same ICCBS report stated that soybean dust was the reason for the multiple deaths. The report said that an aeroallergen from soybean dust was found in the blood samples collected from the people, who died after the suspected gas leakage in the city’s Keamari area.

It was learnt that the ship carrying soybean reached Karachi on February 15. The citizens of Kemari railway colony started being affected by the aeroallergen since the evening of February 16.

On Wednesday, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said there is no need for an immediate evacuation of the city’s Keamari area. “An investigative team under commissioner Karachi has been constituted [to probe the matter],” Shah said. “Till the committee presents its reports, it is impossible to say anything,” he said, adding that the present situation in Keamari area does not merit an evacuation. Separately, Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar said he was not informed about the incident at a government level. “Neither the Sindh government nor the federal government informed me about the situation. What I know about the situation in Keamari is from what I have seen on television,” he said. Criticising the provincial and the federal governments, Akhtar said the two should have taken the public into confidence over what had happened. “They should have come on TV and informed the public about the cause of the gas leak. Neither the Sindh nor the federal government seem serious about the situation,” he alleged.