ISLAMABAD, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Death toll of an unknown poisonous gas leak on Sunday in Pakistan's southern Sindh province has risen to eight, with authorities still clueless about the type of the gas and the source of the continuous leakage, local media and officials said on Tuesday morning.
An official from Sindh province's health department told Xinhua that the death toll of the accident in the provincial capital Karachi has been rising after three of the under treatment persons died at different hospitals during the last 24 hours, adding that around 100 people are still under treatment.
Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah visited hospitals treating the affected people and asked authorities concerned to increase the number of beds in the hospitals because the gas is continuously leaking and people are getting affected.
Hospitals officials told media that over 350 affected people have been brought to the hospitals so far and around 250 have been discharged after recovery.
Ziauddin Hospital's Chief Operating Officer Zahid Ali Faheem told media that people are feeling itching in eyes, stomachache, problems in breathing, tightness in the chest followed by dizziness and unconsciousness.
An unknown poisonous gas started leaking in the Kemari area of Karachi on Sunday evening, killing five people and affected dozens of others in less than half an hour.
Earlier reports said that the toxic gas leaked when workers were unloading a chemical loaded container from a ship docked at the Kemari port area. However, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi rejected the reports and said that no such incident happened at the port area but in the Railway Colony, a residential compound in Kemari near the port area.
The minister said on Twitter that a team of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Damage under Pakistan Navy is engaged in chemical analysis of the unidentified gas.
Adviser to Chief Minister of Sindh Murtaza Wahab told Xinhua that hydrogen sulphide could be the probable type of the leaked gas but so far the investigation is inconclusive and teams are still working on it.
A heavy contingent of police and security forces have cordoned off the whole area and are not allowing any civilian or media person to enter.
