Two labourers die of suffocation at KPT

Report of a high-level inquiry to be made public within 24 hours, says Faisal Subzwari

KARACHI:

Two labourers have died from suspected suffocation while discharging soybean seeds from a ship anchored at Karachi Port Trust (KPT).

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Faisal Subzwari, in a tweet, confirmed the deaths. He later rejected reports regarding the leakage of toxic gas. The minister announced that a high-level inquiry has been directed and the report will be made public within 24 hours.

Officials involved in anchoring the ships and discharging seeds at the port told The Express Tribune that soybeans suck oxygen from the environment.

“In all likelihood, the workers must have gone to take a nap under the shelter where the toxic releases induced unconscious from which they failed to recover," an official involved in the activities shared his account of the incident on the condition of anonymity.

"The workers were apparently unskilled and untrained. They were not directly KPT employees, but hired by a third party,” he added.

According to the reports, the labourers mistakenly ended up in a hatch of a ship carrying soya beans late Monday night and succumbed to the suffocation caused by dust particles. The bodies of the labourers have been recovered and shifted to the hospital.

The official said the vessel named WEIHE had brought 52,272 metric ton seeds from Brazil on April 29 and docked on berth number 10-11 on April 30. The ship is registered in Hong Kong and was staffed by a Chinese captain and crew members, all of whom are safe.

The seeds were imported by at least seven cooking oil manufacturing companies in the country.