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Two hospital patients have died and three others have contracted fungal infections after receiving heart transplants at a major Queensland healthcare facility.

Five transplant patients were infected at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, where elevated levels of mould were detected in an area where equipment for organ retrieval was kept.

Muhammad Hussain was one of the two men who died.

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The 55-year-old general practitioner had a heart transplant in May before he developed a fungal infection.

He was treated for it but died on September 20. His family say they were not told he contracted the infection.

"It's not supposed to be easy, but I think this development of finding out what has been going on at the hospital while we were there tending to my father every day in the background, to find out other people were also so ill, it's been quite shocking," his daughter Muskaan Hussain said.

A second heart transplant patient, Adam Retnock, died on Friday as a result of an infection.

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In parliament today Queensland's Health Minister apologised to the families of the patients, who said they were not clearly communicated with about the cluster.

"It's absolutely not acceptable that patients found out via the news, and the head of the transplant unit assured me that he had spoken directly to every patient and if that has not happened then I want to sincerely apologise to those families – it's not good enough," Shannon Fentiman said.

Two clinical reviews into the deadly fungal cluster outbreak are underway because while these types of infections are common in transplant units where patients are immunocompromised, the high number raised alarm bells.

"I'm not trivialising this at all we are concerned and that's why this investigation is being undertaken," Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said.

"It's very complex".

Three different strains of the fungi have been identified so far and testing is underway to see if they are genetically linked.

The storage area where elevated levels of mould were detected has undergone a deep clean and transplant patients are being given anti-fungal antibiotics as a precaution.

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More than $8 million worth of cocaine has been found onboard a ship at a major international port north of Adelaide.

The discovery of 23kg of what police believe to be cocaine was found on the ship docked at Port Pirie, 223km north of Adelaide yesterday, but police still don't know the origin of the drugs.

Crew who uncovered the suspicious packages contacted police who launched a major investigation with Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police.

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Detective Superintendent Billy Thompson said police were attempting to track down the source of the drugs.

"The discovery of this amount of cocaine is very significant, it is estimated that the street value of drugs would be in excess of $8 million," he said.

"If this amount of illicit drugs had successfully entered the drug market it would have no doubt led to significant harm to our community."

Members of the ship's crew are assisting police with their inquiries.

It is expected that investigators will remain at Port Pirie throughout today as they complete a full search of the ship.

Hardware giant Bunnings will stop selling engineered stone at the end of the year amid a call for a ban on the popular material, which can cause the lung disease silicosis through exposure to crystalline dust when cut.

Bunnings director of merchandise Jen Tucker confirmed the move, just weeks after a report recommended a nationwide ban on the constriction product commonly used in kitchen and bathroom benchtops.

"While there has been clear indication from NSW and other state governments that they will legislate a ban on the product, we are proactively making this decision to allow suppliers and customers time to prepare for a transition," Tucker said.

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"The vast majority of benchtops we sell in our stores are laminate and timber, but we're already well progressed with sourcing other alternative products and we're working closely with our suppliers and customers to support them through the change."

Discussions have been ramping up over a potential blanket ban on the use of all engineered stone over its links to the deadly lung disease.

Federal, state and territory workplace ministers met last month to review a report from SafeWork Australia, which recommended banning the product, irrespective of crystalline silica content.

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Inhaling the dust when the product is being cut to size causes inflammation which, over time, leads to scarring of the lung tissue which makes it difficult to breathe.

Bunnings noted it doesn't sell the benchtops to DIY or trade customers to install or cut themselves.

Another meeting is expected before the end of the year to decide on a ban.

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Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) national secretary Zach Smith said it was "the end of the line for engineered stone".

"When even a massive corporation that until now has put profits over workers' lives concedes it's lost any remaining social licence to sell this killer stone, no government can squib it on a ban," Smith said.

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