KARACHI: The death of three young siblings in the Kharadar area has remained a mystery for the police investigators as the family of the deceased children on Tuesday denied any legal proceedings to know the reason behind their death while suspecting food poisoning to have killed the two girls and a boy.

Officials said that all three children were buried in the Mewashah graveyard late on Monday and the police who approached the family the same day were forced to return empty-handed.

They said the family denied the autopsy of the children which had made it tough for the investigators to initiate and set the course of their probe.

“Three siblings — 11-year-old Aiza, eight-year-old Saad and three-year-old Safa — were brought to the emergency unit of a Kharadar hospital in the early hours of Monday,” said an official. “They died one after another within the next few minutes. They were unconscious and their faces were pale. The hospital tried its best but they did not survive. An initial statement of the hospital management quoted the family that the children had eaten a burger bought from an outlet in Burnes Road a few hours before they were brought to the facility. The family also told the doctors that their home was disinfected and the fumigation was done only a couple of days ago.”

SP City Sumair Channa said the father of the deceased children was in Quetta for business. The children were taken to the hospital by their grandfather and the family denied medico-legal examination of the bodies and any report to the police.

“This has made the job for the police very difficult,” he said. “We are still trying to connect the dots and reach the exact causes behind this tragic incident. We have also approached the Sindh Food Authority and chemical experts for best possible options to set the course of our probe. The family, however, remains uninterested in the investigation or police involvement. No case has been registered yet. We are making efforts.”

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2020