Two children lost their lives on Sunday afternoon after consuming substandard food at a restaurant in the city’s Zamzama area.
According to SSP South Peer Muhammad Shah, a woman and her two children had consumed unhygienic food from the restaurant last night and the latter also purchased candies from a stall at a children’s playland in Defence Phase 4.
The two children were five and one-year-old
The woman told media her children first purchased candies from the playland after which they had food at the Zamzama restaurant.
The three fell ill early Sunday morning but arrived at the hospital at around 12 noon in a very critical condition, the SSP said, quoting hospital officials.
The mother is still under treatment but out of danger, hospital authorities told media.
Shah further said that both the eatery and the playland have been sealed and investigation into the incident is under way.
Food samples from the eatery have been sent to the food authority for testing, he said.
In addition, IG Sindh Kaleem Imam has summoned a report from SSP South.
CM Shah has instructed that a report be submitted of the last time the two facilities underwent an inspection, with details of the inspection mechanism clearly outlined. He has also issued instructions for the identification of government institutions whose negligence could have contributed to this incident.
Meanwhile, Sindh IG Kaleem Imam also took notice of the incident after it was reported on various media outlets. The Sindh police chief has also sought a detailed report from SSP Shah to be submitted at the earliest.
Subsquently, Sindh Food Authority Director Operations Ibrar Shaikh visited the eatery and submitted an initial report to the CM, stating that they took 12 food samples from the restaurant and sealed it.
The food authority has also given a notice to the restaurant to ‘improve’ their hygiene conditions, said the chief minister’s spokesperson, Rasheed Channa, adding that the CM had directed the food authority to start inspection of all restaurants in the city.
The authorities also obtained CCTV footages of both places from 4:00pm. to 12:00 midnight for investigation purposes.
