Contaminated Water Kills 12 in Pakistan

Contaminated water from a state-run reservoir has killed at least 12 people and made 2,000 ill in southern Pakistan, officials said today.  

Naeem Ishtiaq, health minister for the southern province of Sindh, said about 2,000 people had been admitted to hospital in Hyderabad after consuming water from Manchar Lake, which lies just outside the city.

He said at least eight people had died in the past three days. Other officials said four more had died before reaching hospital.

Ishtiaq said the cause of contamination was under investigation.

All those affected lived in one of the poorest parts of Hyderabad, a city of 2.8 million people about 75 miles northwest of the port city of Karachi.

The deaths have provoked angry protests by hundreds of local people and relatives of the victims.

The provincial government said it would pay $3,500 in compensation to the families of each person who had died.

Source: Reuters