Minister rejects report suggesting soybean dust caused Karachi toxic gas deaths

KARACHI: Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Haider Zaidi on Wednesday rejected a university report that said soybean dust from a cargo ship was a likely cause of fatal poisoning that has claimed the lives of 14 people in Karachi since Sunday.
”How come the dust from the ship travels over a kilometer and only affects people in a specific area called Jungle Shah and does not affect anyone else?” the minister told Arab News. “I reject the report,” he said, adding that it was “questionable.”
“Why the dust from soybeans did not affect the crew of the ship and 400+ laborers who were busy offloading the cargo,” Zaidi argued and said forensic investigations were underway to determine the cause of the poisoning. “Will not speculate anything before we see all the reports. This is a scientific forensic investigation.”
Provincial authorities and Karachi University experts said on Tuesday said that soybean dust was the likely cause of the toxic gas that killed 14 and left over 350 people sick.
“Preliminary report has been submitted by experts at Khi (Karachi) Uni (university) which suggests that Kiamari incident happened due to over exposure of soybean dust which is known to have also caused similar incidents in other parts of the world,” Murtaza Wahab, spokesperson of the Sindh government tweeted late Tuesday.
The report by the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) said the deaths were likely due to soybean dust exposure.
“The symptoms due to exposure to soybean dust (aeroallergens) may be considered as the possible cause,” the report said.
Earlier, a government source told Arab News that the incident occurred following the unloading of soybeans on Saturday evening at berth 12 of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) after MV Hercules arrived from the US. The unloading created dust which made its way toward Jackson area of Karachi’s Kiamari municipality.
According to sources, MV Hercules was fumigated on Jan. 8 at Cargill grain reserve Los Angeles, US with 56-degree aluminum phosphide.
Repeated exposure to the substance may damage the lungs, kidneys and liver, the sources said, adding that “it is likely that exposure to particles of aluminum phosphide may have created problems for individuals passing by at that time and such unfortunate incident.”