Mysterious gas leakage: OMCs halt operations amid health scare

• Companies including Shell, and state owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have shut down their operations citing safety concerns.
• The leakage of toxic gas has claimed lives of 14 persons to date.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) have suspended their operations at Kaemari, after mysterious gas leakage incident claimed scores of lives in Karachi.

As per reports, companies including Shell, and state owned Pakistan State Oil (PSO) have shut down their operations citing safety concerns.

Officials of PSO informed that the operations at Keamari will resume as soon as the area is deemed safe for the company's staff and contractors to operate. To a query regarding a supply disruption, the official informed that the company has sufficient stocks available.

The storage terminal at Keamari was temporarily closed, after the employees complained of similar respiratory issues.

Officials at Shell also said no supply issues will arise in coming days, however, if the situation persists in long runs fuel supply shortages could occur in some areas.

Later, the spokesperson of Shell Pakistan limited stated that the company has resumed operations at Kemari after clearance from authorities.

The International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) recently said that the Keamari mystery gas leakage incident, which has claimed the lives of 14 persons to date, while hundreds were rushed to hospitals in Karachi was a result of the exposure to soybean dust carrying aeroallergens.

“While we are working on this complex bioanalytical problem, we think this may be due to over exposure to soybean dust," said the ICBS in a letter written to the Karachi commissioner, regarding the Keamari gas incident. The lab further advised that extreme care be taken while unloading soybean containers.