The Bhopal disaster is the worst industrial tragedy in history, with an estimated 25,000 people killed as a result.
On the night of 2-3 December, the chemical gas spill began from the factory in which none of the six safety systems in place were operational, so the MIC quickly spread throughout the city spreading poison.
Staffing at the MIC unit had been reduced from 12 to six people and the refrigeration unit to cool MIC and prevent chemical reactions had been shut for three months. Water sprayers could not reach the flare towers and the temperature and pressure gauges were malfunctioning and the MIC storage tank was “over capacity”.
The gas created a dense cloud over the city of Bhopal. Residents woke up in coughing fits, their lungs filling with fluid.
Within just a few days, thousands of people had been killed, with many dying from cardiac arrest and respiratory failure, hundreds of thousands of people suffered adverse health effects including blindness, gynecological disorders, cancer, brain damage and birth-defects.
Over thousands of animals were affected and killed in this tragedy.
Workers who picked up the dead from the streets estimate they handled around 20,000 bodies in the aftermath.
Dow Chemical completed a takeover of Union Carbide in 2001, however, claims it has no responsibility to complete a clean up of the site, to compensate victims or to disclose the composition of the gas leak.
By: Archa Dave
