KARACHI: Two labourers died and as many others fell unconscious after inhaling factory waste fumes in North Karachi on Tuesday.

Gabol Town police said the labourers were working on a road widening project near Shafiq Bridge. A crane digging the land disturbed a sewage line that carried toxic waste of nearby factories, said Gulberg SP Chaudary Asad Ali.

He said one of the labourers, Hazrat Umer, 40, became unconscious after inhaling toxic fumes and fell into the sewage where he died. Three other labourers while attempting to retrieve him also fell unconscious, the police said.

They were brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced one of them, Umer Saad, 35, dead on arrival, said additional police surgeon Dr Abdul Haq.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014