NP newsroom
KARACHI: The poisonous gas that leaked into the atmosphere in the Kemari locality of Pakistan’s bustling metropolis, the port city of Karachi, has still not been identified with any certainty, nor has the source been located despite the passage of three days and a death toll of 14 until now, with 301 affected.
Citizens speaking to NewsroomPakistan wondered incredulously at Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments’ inability and lack of preparedness to deal with such accidents and calamities. Their sense of insecurity was evident when they asked what would happen had this disaster afflicted a larger area.
Since no authority has been able to identify the gas with any degree of authority yet, this has left the door open for speculation and suggestion, leading NewsroomPakistan sources to suspect that the gas could be either:
Disulfur decafluoride, a colorless gas or liquid with a Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) like odor. Its toxicity is thought to be caused when it reacts with moisture to form sulfurous acid and hydrofluoric acid. Disulfur decafluoride itself is not toxic due to hydrolysis products, since it is hardly hydrolysed by water and most aqueous solutions.
OR
Sulfur Tetraflouride, a colourless gas. It is corrosive and releases dangerous HF upon exposure to water or moisture. Despite these unwelcome characteristics, this compound is useful in the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries.
Sulfur Tetraflouride reacts inside the lungs with moisture, generating sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride.
Pakistanis disturbed by this disaster say that either the Ports and Shipping Authority has something to hide or that its disaster management systems are in inept and have not heard of the Principles for the Safe Handling and Distribution of Highly Toxic Gases and Mixtures Asia Industrial Gases Association, 2006
