Mismanagement blamed for deadly factory stampede

Burial of victims continue as bereaved families collect bodies from mortuaries

KARACHI:

Survivors of the deadly SITE Area factory stampede blame mismanagement for the tragedy as relatives mourned the death of their loved ones. Twelve people, mostly women and children, were killed and 10 were injured in the stampede for Zakat cash handouts at the factory on Friday.

Among the victims was Muhafiya, mother of five and resident of Orangi Town. She was laid to rest at a local graveyard after her last rites. Muhafiya was dropped off at the factory gate by her husband, who is an auto-rickshaw driver.

Some women from the neighbourhood were already there to collect cash handouts and food rations. "When we reached the factory, 2,000 to 2,500 women were already present there in a long queue to collect Rs2,000 cash handout each," Muhafiya's husband recalled while speaking to media persons at the funeral. "Seeing the rush, I advised my wife against going inside," he added. But she would not listen. He waited outside the factory as some women came out emptyhanded due to rush.

"Suddenly, when the management opened the factory gate, there was commotion which was followed by shouting and crying as a stampede happened," he recalled. When his wife did not return, he rushed inside to search for his wife but found her lying dead on the ground. He said that his wife lost her life in the hope of receiving Rs2,000 cash handout thinking that it would help the mitigate the family's financial problems.

The distraught husband blamed mismanagement at the Zakat distribution for the tragedy. "They should have not allowed so many people to gather at the factory if they did not know how to control them," he said. "When so many people gather and there is no arrangement to manage the crowd, then chaos is bound to happen." A large number of family members, relatives, and neighbours were present at the deceased's residence to offer condolences. They were angry at the factory management as they blamed so many deaths on mismanagement.

Meanwhile the funeral prayer for a teenager, Saad, who also died in the stampede, was also offered in Nazimabad. The bereaved father said that nothing was dearer than children. "This tragic incident occurred due to mismanagement by the factory management," he said. The body of another young victim, Umm Haniya, was also shifted to her residence in Ghazigoth, Orangi Town, for funeral from the Chippa mortuary. She was later buried in a local cemetery.