Five laborers die after inhaling toxic fumes in Karachi factory

At least five people were killed and another is still in critical condition after inhaling toxic fumes at a factory in Karachi. According to the reports, the incident took place at a plastic manufacturing factory called Maxen Plastic on Sunday evening.

The factory is located near Vita Chowrangi in Korangi Industrial Area and according to reports, the owner of the factory had asked for the cleanup of one of its tanks. Extra labor was hired to do the job but none of them were informed that the tank contained harmful material.

One of the workers, Muhammad Fayyaz, was also involved in cleaning the tank, and he miraculously survived and provided the reporters with details of the case.

“The boss had ordered us to clean the tank on Sunday,” he said and added that nine laborers were called for cleaning of the factory.
“At first, three laborers went inside an underground tank to clean it but they fainted shortly after inhaling toxic fumes accumulated there. We attempted to rescue them but also fainted while doing so.”

It was reported that six laborers, including two permanent employees of the factory, fell unconscious while cleaning the tank. The affected workers were immediately rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) but five of them died on the way.

The bodies of the deceased workers were handed over to their families for burial-all of them belonged to the Korangi area.

Families of the victims staged a protest against the factory owner, and are demanding his arrest on the grounds that he did not ensure the safety of the workers.

FIR No 462/16 under Section 322 (unintended murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code has been registered against the owner of the factory.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=52998

Posted by fatimaarshad on May 16 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.