The accident occurred during the night between 2 and 3 December 1984 in Bhopala town in central India which already at that time had almost 1 million inhabitants, is probably the worst industrial disaster in historyThe main cause of the accident was the semi-abandoned state of an important chemical plant for the production of pesticides, owned by the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which led to the spread of a cloud of irritating and toxic gas. The poor preparation of the local authorities and the lack of collaboration of the company, which refused for days to provide information to the health authorities, caused the confirmed death of at least 3700 peoplealthough estimates from non-governmental agencies suggest much higher numbers. But how exactly did events unfold that night, and what are the consequences that the population faced and still faces today?
Where the accident occurred: Union Carbide plant
To promote the industrial development of the nation, India offered favorable conditions to foreign investors and companies in the 1970s for the construction of plants on its territory. UCC obtained permission to build a plant for the production of Sevin pesticideof increasing use in Southeast Asia, in a densely populated area of the city of Bhopal. The city was chosen for its central location in the country and for its developed transport network; the Indian government itself entered as a 22% shareholder in the specially created company, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL).
Initially conceived for the sole production of the final product, the plant was over time modified to include the complete process starting from raw materials, in search of cost reduction, but with increasing risks due to the increased complexity of the plant.
Periods of poor harvests impoverished the agricultural sector in the early 1980s, leading to a strong reduction in pesticide consumption in the Indian subcontinent: for this reason the UCC planned a progressive abandonment of the site and moving part of the production to other developing countries. This plan reduced the investment in the plant, with a serious impact on the safety measures initially planned and applied instead in the “twin” plant in Institute, West Virginia (USA). All this happened under the eyes of the government authorities, who did not intend to force the hand with UCC in the hope of keeping part of the production in India.
The Bhopal Disaster: What Happened on December 3, 1984
To the 11:00 PM, December 2, 1984an operator noticed a first, small gas leak methyl isocyanateabbreviated to MIC (chemical formula CH3-N=C=O), a irritating gas used as a reagent in the pesticide manufacturing process.
Due to a malfunctioning valve, approximately one ton of water in tank 610 had come into contact with 40 tons of MIC, triggering a exothermic reaction which then caused a increase in temperature and pressure: given the poor state of maintenance of the systems and the frequent false alarms, however, this first increase was underestimated by the night shift supervisor, who decided to postpone further checks until after the midnight break.
By the time the pressure went from the normal 2 psi of use to values around 40/55 psithe safety valves opened: the MIC, at high pressures and temperatures, had in the meantime partially degraded to Hydrocyanic acida gaseous compound capable of interrupting cellular respiration, rapidly leading to death by respiratory arrest.
The system included several safety measures to counteract such an event: the tank had a cooling system to slow down any reactions, the gases coming out of the safety valves could be neutralized by the use caustic soda and directed towards a burnerand it was possible to activate a “wall of water” to solubilize losses.
THE’cooling system it had been though emptied to use the refrigerant elsewhereThe burner stopped for maintenance for months due to the corrosion of some pipesand the concentration of the soda required had not been verified since October. The gas vent It also occurred from a Pipeline at 33 meters high, not reachable by the wall of water.
The toxic cloud and the confused response of the authorities
The effects of gas on the population were warned as early as 11:30 p.m. on December 2, but many people around the factory did not flee immediately, because they had not been alerted by the public alarm system and were already accustomed to small losses. When the sirens finally sounded, for a few minutes the 01:00 on December 3rdthe wind direction was not communicated, unlike what was done with the plant employees.
The cloud spread over the entire cityreaching even wealthy neighborhoods beyond the large lakes that partly absorbed the gases, but it was concentrated by the wind in a south-east direction towards some of the poorest neighborhoods. The inhabitants of these areas lived in less protected housing from the outside air, and for the vast majority did not have means of transportation: fleeing on foot they suffered the harmful effects of the gas for longer.
Many lives were saved by the heroic actions of individualslike those of the stationmaster H.S. Bhurveyamong the victims of that night: despite the air being unbreathable, he remained at the station a few hundred meters from the factory to indicate to the incoming trains not to stop and to warn the nearby stations, so that traffic headed for Bhopal would be stopped.
Thousands of victims had already fallen on the streets, but also those who managed to reach the hospitals or clinics set up in the nearby towns in the hours that followed. did not receive appropriate treatment immediately: UCC did not release precise information, in an attempt to cover up its responsibilities for the evident disaster, leaving medical personnel the responsibility of advancing hypotheses and attempting therapies in the general chaos. The hypothesis of exposure to cyanide was long debated among experts, leading to fatal delays in widespread administration of antidotes.
MIC Damage: Confirmed Casualties and Consequences of the Disaster
According to official figures, total deaths were over 3700. The large number of corpses on the streets, together with the number of animals also killed by the gas and the risk of epidemicspushed the army that intervened during the night to create mass graves which were added to the unregistered burials carried out by citizens, so the death toll was probably heavily underestimated. The extent of the tragedy was clear to journalists and photographers who flocked to the city in the following days.
Non-governmental sources and UNICEF officials visiting the town following the disaster estimated a figure closer to 7000 or 10,000 deathsThe enormous confusion of the moment also caused problems later, when the government redistributed the amounts allocated by the UCC for the emergency, leaving many families of the victims without compensation.
The hell, unfortunately, continued for a long time for the survivors: many suffered permanent disabilities, from respiratory difficulties And early fatigue to vision problemsa condemnation to poverty for the many day-labourers who were no longer able to return to their jobs. Furthermore, strong increases in miscarriages And neonatal malformationsas well as a high number of gynecological problems And Incidence of tumors 27 times greater than the surrounding population.
Years of legal battlesin Indian territory as well as in US courts, eventually led to a $500 million compensation paid by UCC to the Indian government, which took care of distributing it to the citizens, not without difficulty.
As far as the search for the culprits is concerned, however, no senior UCC official served his sentence: the administrator Warren Andersoninitially arrested upon landing in India in 1984, was quickly released by local authorities under foreign pressure and was able to escape subsequent trial, which ended with his conviction in 1992. extradition request of 2003 was denied by the US, so Anderson remained free until his death in 2014.
After 40 years oldBhopal is today a more modern city, with 1,800,000 inhabitants and a growing tourism industry: the shadows of the UCC remain however on the never reclaimed area of the plant. In the underground waters of the city, still in the 2000s, there were mercury concentrations 6 times higher than the limits suggested by the EPA and organochlorine compounds at concentrations 50 times higher: the latest legacy of the worst industrial disaster in history.
