Zero hour - Bhopal (Gas) Disaster
- 7 years ago
December 3rd 1984. Evening descends on Bhopal, a bustling Indian city of nearly 1 million people, many factory workers living in the slums surrounding the city. As they cook, eat and prepare for bed, few have any inkling that, in a few terrifying hours, more than 3,000 of them will choke to death in clouds of toxic gas. 'MIC' used at the plant to create the pesticide 'Sevin', is one of the most toxic substances known to humans; a deadly gas able to shut down the human respiratory system causing suffocation by drowning. After years of investigation and analysis; industry experts, workers and survivors testify to what happened as Seconds From Disaster uncovers the astonishing chain of events that led to the biggest man-made disaster of all time.
At around midnight on 3rd December 1984 began the worst nightmare for Bhopal. The night of terror and death. A cloud of deadly gases exploded from the pesticide plant that belonged to Union Carbide India, a subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Company because of an exothermic reaction due to the entry of water to the tank containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate releasing large amount of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded into the homes of sleeping people of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs, suffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting.
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster.
It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The highly toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant.
Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.
The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank, triggering the disaster. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage.
The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned by UCC, with Indian Government-controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1989, UCC paid $470 million ($907 million in 2014 dollars) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster. In 1994, UCC sold its stake in UCIL to Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), which subsequently merged with McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Eveready ended clean-up on the site in 1998, when it terminated its 99-year lease and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh. Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen years after the disaster.
Civil and criminal cases were filed in the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster. In June 2010, seven former employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed.
At around midnight on 3rd December 1984 began the worst nightmare for Bhopal. The night of terror and death. A cloud of deadly gases exploded from the pesticide plant that belonged to Union Carbide India, a subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Company because of an exothermic reaction due to the entry of water to the tank containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate releasing large amount of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded into the homes of sleeping people of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs, suffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting.
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster.
It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The highly toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant.
Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.
The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank, triggering the disaster. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage.
The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned by UCC, with Indian Government-controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1989, UCC paid $470 million ($907 million in 2014 dollars) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster. In 1994, UCC sold its stake in UCIL to Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), which subsequently merged with McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Eveready ended clean-up on the site in 1998, when it terminated its 99-year lease and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh. Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen years after the disaster.
Civil and criminal cases were filed in the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster. In June 2010, seven former employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed.