One after the other: Six men fall to their deaths in chemical tank

Factory owner among the victims, who were also his relatives .

KARACHI:

The bodies of at least six men were found from inside an underground chemical tank at a pickle factory in Korangi Industrial Area on Sunday.

When one of the factory workers came to work, he realised what had happened. His screams attracted the attention of the neighbours who called the police helpline 15 and told them that several bodies are lying in the underground tank.

Rescuers from different welfare associations also reached the site along with the law enforcers and retrieved the bodies. "Some parts of the bodies had turned black and blue because of the chemical reaction," said Asif Khan, one of the rescue workers. "Some kind of foam was also coming out of their mouths."



The pickle manufacturing factory is built on a 400-square-yard plot on Darussalam Cooperative Housing Society in Korangi's Allahwala Town. The tank from where the bodies were retrieved is around eight by 10 square-feet wide and nearly 20 feet deep. There was no cover over the underground tank, just some wooden planks. It was used mainly to store the chemicals the manufacturers use to make pickles.

According to the residents, the factory was established around 15 years ago but no such incident had occurred before. The factory owner, 45-year-old Mehtab, who was among the victims, was a resident of Delhi Colony, said a neighbour, Shaukat Ali. "Those who lost their lives were all his relatives." The factory operated throughout the week and the workers would take turns for their off days, he explained.

The bodies were taken for autopsies to Jinnah hospital where the remaining victims were identified as Adnan, his father Saleem, Sohail, Nawab and Imran. All the men were between the ages of 30 and 35 years, except Saleem, who was around 50 years old.

"All the six men were dead when they were brought to the hospital," said Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre's joint executive director Dr Seemin Jamali. "It appeared the men died from suffocation due to poisonous chemical gases," she told The Express Tribune. "But the cause of the death can only be confirmed following a post-mortem examination."

The police have, however, termed the tragedy an accident. "One of the employees, Adnan, fell inside the tank and then his father went inside through the ladder to rescue him but he also fell down," said Korangi SP Afnan Amin. "Later, the remaining employees also fell one by one trying to save each other."

SP Amin admitted they cannot confirm any details as the investigations are in their preliminary stages. He added that the factory was operating in a residential area, they have yet to determine whether or not it was illegal.

The Korangi Industrial Area police have detained a watchman, Taj Muhammad, and three other employees of the factory who were present when the tragedy occurred. The police said they will register an FIR if they find any criminal elements in the investigations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2015.