Food poisoning: Teenage girl dies after eating burger at fast food joint

Kinza's family ask police to register a case against the fast food joint

KARACHI: A girl died apparently due to food poisoning in District Central, Karachi, late Wednesday night. Thirteen-year-old Kinza, daughter of Abdul Bari, a student of class eight and a resident of Block-N, North Nazimabad, was admitted to Ziauddin Hospital in the same neighbourhood.

Her family claimed that Kinza, her mother Dr Shazia and two siblings, Noman and Shayan, ate burgers from a fast food joint - Dilpasand - in North Nazimabad, on Wednesday. After eating the burgers, the four fell sick and were admitted to Ziauddin Hospital, where Kinza died during treatment. She was later laid to rest on Friday.

The family also approached the police to register a case against the food outlet. However, the police said they were waiting for the chemical examination report.

"The family buried the girl without medico-legal formalities at a government hospital," said North Nazimabad SHO Nasir Sami. He said that the family had provided them one of the burgers and the police will send it to the laboratory for chemical examination to ascertain the cause of the death. "We will be able to register an FIR if the chemical report confirms the burger contained poisonous material."

The manager of the food joint said that while the police are looking into the incident, the management is also trying to ascertain facts.

"Hundreds of people come here and eat food daily," he said. "If there was some problem in the food, it should have affected more people. But nothing can be said until the chemical report is issued."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.