Police seek exhumation in Keamari deaths case

Police on Wednesday requested the judicial magistrate district West to allow the exhumation of bodies of those allegedly killed by toxic fumes from a plastic recycling factory in Ali Muhammad Goth of Keamari.

The investigation officer (IO) told the court that autopsies were necessary to determine the cause of death. The lawyer of the complainant did not object to the request to exhume graves.

The judge ordered the IO to submit the challan at the next hearing while sending arrested factory owner Khair Muhammad on judicial remand.

The factory owner has been arrested in connection with multiple deaths in Ali Muhammad Goth. He owns a plastic factory on Suparco Road and was taken into custody by Mochko police on Sunday.

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The complainant in the case Khadim Hussain is a labourer and a resident of the area where the deaths took place. His plea stated that toxic fumes from the plastic recycling factories caused the deterioration of health of his wife Razia, 18-year-old son Shoaib, four-year-old son Shahid, and one-year-old daughter Halimah.

They all passed away between January 12 and 21. The plea added that the poisonous smoke caused more deaths in the neighbourhood, but the bereaved families were yet to report it to the police.

A day earlier, the SHC had ordered police to register cases of all deaths that were believed to have been caused by the inhalation of toxic fumes.

Hussain had named the owners of the plastic factory in the area, Khair Muhammad alias Sher Ali, Arshad, Shahid, and Saeed, in his police complaint. It stated that the owners violated safety protocols and environmental concerns which resulted in the death of his family members, after exposure to toxic fumes emitting from their factory.