Karachi police on Wednesday confirmed a report that had been compiled by Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) officials revealing that the anti-bug spray of Aluminum Phosphide led to the death of six members of a family that had stayed at Qasre Naz last month.
According to the latest findings, five siblings – two sisters and three brothers – and their aunt died owing to fumigation in the state guest room where they had stayed after their arrival from Quetta.
According to DIG Karachi South Sharjeel Kareem Kharal, the six had died after exposure to toxic gases released in fumigation carried out by the staff of Qasr-i-Naz, an official guesthouse where the victims were staying on their arrival in Karachi from Balochistan.
DIG Kharal, addressing a press conference, said that nine persons, including the chief engineer of the guesthouse, have been arrested on the charge of manslaughter.
The South police chief, while quoting laboratory reports of samples collected, said that phosphine was found in the viscera of the deceased. He ruled out the possibility of toxic food behind the tragedy.
“Phosphine was detected in the blood and stomachs (of the deceased),” said DIG Kharal, as he read out Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) and HEJ Karachi University’s reports. “Drugs/poisons were not detected in blood and stomach.”
“Phosphine is an extremely poisonous gas. It is widely used as an agriculture fumigant,” he explained.
The DIG South pointed out that during the search of Qasr-i-Naz’s stores, police investigators had found empty bottles of phosphine and seized the same as evidence.
The senior officer revealed that the staff of the guesthouse had allegedly tried to destroy the evidence.
The nine held suspects, including chief engineer Nadeem Shaikh, have been booked under Section 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab: whoever commits qatl bis-sabab shall be liable to diyat).
Earlier, a research institute of the Karachi University had stated that the woman and five children had died due to the poisonous effect of an insecticide and not from food poisoning as initial reports suggested.
The initial report of the KU’s International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) said the deaths were not caused by any poisonous food but due to the Phosphate gas that was caused by the anti-bug spray of Aluminum Phosphide.
