Mystery surrounds the leakage of a toxic gas in Karachi Port's Keamari area on Sunday night that left over 14 persons dead and hundreds hospitalized with breathing problems. All suspects - Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan International Containers Terminal, and South Asia Pakistan Terminals - ruled out the possibility of the lethal gas escaping from their respective terminals or jurisdictions. Whilst the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency remained clueless as to the source and identity of the gas till Monday evening, the police registered an FIR against unknown persons under Section 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance) 321, (manslaughter) and 337-J (causing hurt by means of a poison) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
It should not have taken so long for the authorities concerned to determine the source of trouble in view of the fact that most of those who died from inhaling the poisonous gas or became ill lived in houses located next to a storage facility in Railway Colony. The source had to be close by. Reports also say the smell of the gas was so strong till Monday morning that four officers at the Customs House fell unconscious, leading to evacuation of all staff amid declaration of emergency. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also issued evacuation directives after visiting the distressed areas and finding out that the people were still getting affected by the foul smell. Considering that even high school students reading chemistry know that one of the distinctive properties of a gas is its odour or lack of it, it is a mystery why the experts were and are unable to identify from its odour the culprit that played havoc in Keamari. Meanwhile, the CM has asked the city commissioner to submit a detailed report on the tragic incident. Hopefully, it will be made public so necessary steps are taken to ensure no such episode recurs in future.
This is not the first case of its nature, though. Not long ago, several people lost their lives due to leakage of a toxic gas from a factory located in a densely populated neighbourhood of Lahore. Before that, leakage of CNG from a cylinders filling facility sited inside a house caused several casualties. In fact, there have been quite a few cases of people suffering from inhaling poisonous gases. Clearly, there is no effective safety check on handling, storage and transportation of hazardous gases, such as CNG, chlorine and ammonia, although the Federal Ministry of Industries and Production has issued clearly stated guidelines. It is about time all provincial governments made certain that the prescribed safety measures are implemented. As regards the present case, the violators, whosoever they might be, must be held to account for negligence. And the storage facilities should be moved away from residential areas. All concerned must be made to fully comply with the rules that prohibit commercial concerns dealing in hazardous substances from functioning in or close to populated areas.