On the night between 2-3 December 1984, in a pesticide factory of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal India, there was a massive gas leak.
UCIL was co-owned by Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation (US company with 50.9% stake) and Government of India (49.1% stake).
The company was established in India in 1934, and produced batteries, welding equipment, plastics, industrial chemicals, pesticides and marine products.
In 1970, it had set up a chemical plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (central India), where this incident happened when water accidentally entered a methyl isocyanate storage tank.
When methyl isocyanate mixes with water, there is a sudden release of heat.
At a temperature of 20 degree celsius or above, the reaction of water with methyl isocyanate rapidly releases vapours of isocyanate in the air.
Isocyanate is highly toxic and even 1 particle of it in 2 million other particles have been found to be deadly i.e. if we add 1 litre of isocyanate in 2 million litres of water and drink that water, we can have severe health consequences.
At certain places near the accident the concentration of isocyanate is believed to have reached 85 parts per million i.e. 170 litres in 2 million litres.
It is no surprise then that Bhopal Gas Tragedy is considered the world’s worst industrial disaster in which over 570,000 people were injured and over 3,000 people died.
More than 35 years after the disaster, the cause of the accident is still under debate.
The Indian government blames slack management, while the American company argues the water entered through an act of sabotage.
Civil & criminal cases were filed against the American company and Warren Anderson (CEO), in the US but these were directed to the Indian courts.
Warren Anderson landed in India on December 7, 1984 to take stock of the situation, was arrested and released on bail within hours and he flew back to US immediately.
He never came back and despite India’s requests to the US government to send him to India, he was never sent citing lack of evidence; Warren died (aged 93) at a nursing home in US in 2009.
In June 2010, seven Indian nationals were sentenced to 2-year imprisonment and fined $2,000 each for causing death by negligence.
