Children who died from alleged food poisoning in Karachi laid to rest

KARACHI: Two children who died from alleged food poisoning after dining at a restaurant in Karachi were laid to rest on Monday.

Ahmed, 18 months old, and Muhammad, 5, lost their lives on Sunday afternoon allegedly due to food poisoning after dining at a restaurant in the city's Zamzama area the previous night.

The funeral prayers of the brothers were offered at a mosque in Karachi's Defence earlier today.

Speaking to the media outside the mosque, relatives of the two children demanded that the food inspector be arrested and an inquiry into the incident be completed at the earliest.

A post-mortem of the two brothers was completed on Sunday night. A representative of Jinnah Hospital said the brothers apparently died due to food poisoning.

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According to Dr Shiraz, the medico-legal officer (MLO) at Jinnah Hospital, a report subsequent to the deceased children's post-mortem had been reserved. Their deaths look like an incident of poisoning, he said, adding that samples from the bodies and blood specimens had been taken and sent to a laboratory for analysis.

The chemical analysis report from body samples and blood specimens would be released in approximately 5-10 days, Dr Shiraz mentioned, after which the final cause of death could be ascertained.

Police have initiated a probe into the matter and the restaurant has been sealed for forensic investigation.