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KARACHI Most of the deaths in the Khori Garden stampede were caused by neurogenic shock and suffocation as the victims had no bone injuries, an inquiry tribunal probing the Sept 14 tragedy was told on Thursday.
Two medico-legal officers from the civil hospital, who conducted the post-mortem examinations of the victims, testified that they did not find injuries on the bodies.
District and sessions judge (south) Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui, who is conducting a judicial inquiry to investigate and determine the cause of the incident, recorded the statements of the two MLOs, a journalist and a prayer leader of a mosque situated on the premises of city courts.
Dr Roheena Hassan in her testimony deposed that she conducted 10 autopsies but did not attend any injured woman, adding that she found no bone injuries of the bodies.
She said the deaths were caused by neurogenic shock (a life-threatening medical condition in which there is insufficient blood flow throughout the body) and asphyxia (suffocation).
Dr Mahvish deposed that she had conducted post-mortem examination of four women, adding that they all died of cardio-respiratory arrest caused due to neurogenic shock and asphyxia.
She said that she did not found any bone injury during autopsy of the bodies. She informed the court that four bodies of young girls were taken away by their legal heirs without post-mortem examination. Besides, autopsy of a woman, who died during treatment, was not performed.
A journalist, Rabia Ali, deposed that she met two female eyewitnesses at the place of incident after the tragedy. One of them stated that the incident was taken place after the employees of rice dealer baton-charged the crowd in order to control it, while the other woman said that the stampede occurred due to impatience of the poor women.
The following day, she visited the civil hospital where some injured girls and women told her that workers at the warehouse had closed down the entrance and exit points of the outlet and baton charged the women.
The prayer leader of a mosque situated on the premises of city courts deposed that the mosque administration with the help of donors had planned to distribute ration among needy women on Sept 14 at 5pm, but they came to know through the media about the Khori Garden stampede and canceled the distribution programme.
With the record of these testimonies, the tribunal has completed its inquiry. A final inquiry report will be sent to the authorities concerned on Saturday. The tribunal has examined a total of 15 witnesses, including the nazim of Saddar Town, SHO Kharadar police station, a UC nazim, office-bearers of the wholesale grocers association, shopkeepers, workers of the warehouse and MLOs.
The inquiry officer also recorded the statement of the warehouse owner and rice dealer, Chaudhry Mohammed Iftikhar, who was booked in the case for negligence and unintentional killing of the women.
The provincial government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident after the death of around 20 women and girls in the stampede at a three-storey warehouse near Khori Garden within the remit of the Kharadar police station on Sept 14. The women had gathered there to get free ration.
