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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 19 February 2020

People offer funeral prayers for a victim of a toxic gas leak, dur-
ing his funeral prayer, in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 17,
2020.
Associated Press
Death toll from

toxic gas leak rises In this photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, a young desert locust that has not yet grown wings is

stuck in a spider's web on a thorny bush in the desert near Garowe, in the semi-autonomous Punt-
to 14 in Pakistan land region of Somalia. Associated Press

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — dents from Kamari to safer Huge locust outbreak in East
A gas leak in the southern places by Tuesday eve-
port city of Karachi has ning. Scientists and chemi-
killed 14 people and sick- cal experts from the army Africa reaches South Sudan
ened hundreds more, Paki- and navy were deployed
stani health officials said to the affected area to try
Tuesday. to detect the source of the By MAURA AJAK fluenced by the changing tries in the region for a
The leak that started Sun- leak. Associated Press climate in the region. locust outbreak, and its
day has set off a panic in Syed Murad Ali Shah, chief JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The situation in those three people are arguably more
Karachi and raised con- minister in Sindh province, The worst locust outbreak countries "remains ex- vulnerable. More than 5
cerns because city officials acknowledged that au- that parts of East Africa tremely alarming," the U.N. million people are severely
could not immediately thorities were still unable have seen in 70 years has Food and Agriculture Or- food insecure, the U.N. hu-
identify the source and to determine what caused reached South Sudan, a ganization said in its lat- manitarian office says in
type of gas involved. Offi- the gas leak, which he said country where roughly half est Locust Watch update its latest assessment, and
cials said there was no sus- had not spread to other the population already Monday. Locusts also have some 860,000 children are
picion of sabotage. parts of the city. faces hunger after years reached Sudan, Eritrea, malnourished.
The apparently odorless Hundreds of residents ral- of civil war, officials an- Tanzania and more recent- Five years of civil war shat-
gas, which causes severe lied Tuesday demanding nounced Tuesday. ly Uganda. tered South Sudan's econ-
breathing problems, has the source of the leak be Around 2,000 locusts were The soil in South Sudan's omy, and lingering insecuri-
sickened hundreds since traced quickly. spotted inside the country, Eastern Equatoria has a ty since a 2018 peace deal
striking Karachi's coastal All of the stricken people Agriculture Minister Onyoti sandy nature that allows continues to endanger hu-
neighborhood of Kamari — hospitals said they had Adigo told reporters. Au- the locusts to lay eggs eas- manitarians trying to distrib-
and residents began rush- treated more than 650 — thorities will try to control ily, said Meshack Malo, ute aid.
ing to local hospitals. were residents of Kamari. the outbreak, he added. country representative with Another local aid worker
Zafar Mahdi, a senior health A patient in a Karchi hos- The locusts have been seen the FAO. was shot and killed last
official, put the death toll pital, Babar Bahadur, said in Eastern Equatoria state At this stage "if we are not week, the U.N. said Tues-
at 14 on Tuesday. Monday he first felt an near the borders with Ethio- able to deal with them ... it day.
Authorities said they were ache in his eyes and pain pia, Kenya and Uganda. All will be a problem," he said. The locusts have traveled
planning to evacuate resi- in chest. q have been affected by the South Sudan is even less across the region in swarms
outbreak that has been in- prepared than other coun- the size of major cities. q