Five children died, on Friday, of suspected food poisoning after their family ate at a restaurant in Karachi’s Saddar area.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Gulshan Tahir Noorani, the family of eight were from Quetta and had arrived in the port city last night to stay at a guest house in Saddar.
All five siblings, including Abdul Ali, 1.5-years old; Aziz Faisal, four-years-old; Aliya, six-years-old; Tauheed, seven-years-old; and Salvi, nine-years-old, died of food poisoning, according to the initial investigation. The children were shifted to a private hospital for medical treatment but medical staff was unable to save them. Their mother and paternal aunt, Beena, 28-years-old, are critically ill and being treated at a private hospital.
The official claimed that the family had consumed food from a restaurant located on Zamzama Boulevard in DHA Phase V, and a shop outside an amusement park in DHA’s Phase IV. He added that the family had also eaten at a restaurant in Khuzdar while travelling to Karachi. Further investigation is underway while the police have shuttered the eatery and Sindh Food Authority has taken food samples for chemical examination. Police officials asserted that they had taken 18 employees of the restaurant into custody. The bodies of deceased children will also be sent to Jinnah Hospital for their postmortem. An initial report of the incident has also been submitted by the Sindh Food Authority on special instructions from Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who has also ordered the commissioner to launch an inquiry into the matter. Hospital authorities have also sent procured food samples for forensic testing. Karachi South Police Deputy Inspector General, Sharjeel Kharal, said that the police would try to include samples of all the food consumed during the family’s journey to Karachi in its investigation.
Last November, two siblings, Ahmed, one-and-a-half-year-old; and Muhammad, five-years-old, were killed in a similar case of suspected food poisoning after dining out at a high-end restaurant in the upscale Zamzama area, a night earlier.
Published in Daily Times, February 23rd 2019.
