Bhopal (Great Disasters, Reforms and Ramifications)

Bhopal
REFORMS and RAMIFICATIONS
Bhopal
John Riddle
CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

Philadelphia
Frontispiece: India, the second most populous
country in the world, is located in south central
Asia. Over one billion people reside on the
Indian subcontinent.
CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

Editor in Chief Sally Cheney
Director of Production Kim Shinners
Creative Manager Takeshi Takahashi
Manufacturing Manager Diann Grasse
Staff for BHOPAL

Assistant Editor Susan Naab
Picture Researcher Sarah Bloom
Production Assistant Jaimie Winkler
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Cover Designer Keith Trego
Layout 21st Century Publishing and Communications, Inc.
© 2002 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of

Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
First Printing
135798642
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http://www.chelseahouse.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Riddle, John.
Bhopal : great disasters, reforms and ramifications / John Riddle.
p. cm.
Summary: Presents an account of the 1984 chemical accident at
the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, and explores how the
investigation of such accidents can lead to safety reform.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7910-6741-6 (hardcover)
1. Bhopal Union Carbide Plant Disaster, Bhopal, India, 1984—
Juvenile literature. 2. Pesticide industry—Accidents—India—
Bhopal—Juvenile literature. 3. Chemical industry—Accidents
—India—Bhopal—Juvenile literature. 4. Methyl isocyanate—
Toxicology—India—Bhopal—Juvenile literature. [1. Bhopal
Union Carbide Plant Disaster, Bhopal, India, 1984. 2. Chemical
industry—Accidents.] I. Title.
HD7269.C452 I52665 2002
363.17'91—dc21
2002001416
Contents
Introduction
Jill McCaffrey 7
1 Danger Lies Ahead 11
2 An Unthinkable Accident 19
3 What Happened Next 39
4 Union Carbide Responds 47
5 A Long Period of Suffering 59
6 A Look at Bhopal Today 69
Bibliography 79
Further Reading 80
Index 81
REFORMS and RAMIFICATIONS
THE APOLLO 1 AND THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

CHALLENGER DISASTERS
LOVE CANAL
BHOPAL
THE MUNICH OLYMPICS
THE BLACK DEATH
NUCLEAR SUBMARINE DISASTERS
THE BLIZZARD OF 1888
THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
THE BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA
PEARL HARBOR
THE CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
THE DUST BOWL
THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
THE EXPLOSION OF TWA FLIGHT 800 OF 1906
THE EXXON VALDEZ THE SPANISH INQUISITION
THE GALVESTON HURRICANE THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE TERRORISM
THE GREAT PLAGUE AND THREE MILE ISLAND

FIRE OF LONDON
THE TITANIC
THE HINDENBURG
THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST COMPANY
THE HOLOCAUST FIRE OF 1911
THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918 THE WACO SIEGE
THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING

Jill McCaffrey
National Chairman
Armed Forces Emergency Services
American Red Cross
Introduction
D
isasters have always been a source of fascination and awe. Tales of
a great flood that nearly wipes out all life are among humanity’s
oldest recorded stories, dating at least from the second millen-
nium B.C., and they appear in cultures from the Middle East to the Arctic
Circle to the southernmost tip of South America and the islands of
Polynesia. Typically gods are at the center of these ancient disaster tales—
which is perhaps not too surprising, given the fact that the tales originated
during a time when human beings were at the mercy of natural forces they
did not understand.
To a great extent, we still are at the mercy of nature, as anyone who
reads the newspapers or watches nightly news broadcasts can attest.
7
8 INTRODUCTION
Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, wildfires, and floods continue to

exact a heavy toll in suffering and death, despite our considerable
knowledge of the workings of the physical world. If science has
offered only limited protection from the consequences of natural
disasters, it has in no way diminished our fascination with them.
Perhaps that’s because the scale and power of natural disasters force
us as individuals to confront our relatively insignificant place in the
physical world and remind us of the fragility and transience of our
lives. Perhaps it’s because we can imagine ourselves in the midst
of dire circumstances and wonder how we would respond. Perhaps
it’s because disasters seem to bring out the best and worst instincts
of humanity: altruism and selfishness, courage and cowardice,
generosity and greed.
As one of the national chairmen of the American Red Cross, a
humanitarian organization that provides relief for victims of disasters,
I have had the privilege of seeing some of humanity’s best instincts.
I have witnessed communities pulling together in the face of trauma;
I have seen thousands of people answer the call to help total strangers
in their time of need.
Of course, helping victims after a tragedy is not the only way, or
even the best way, to deal with disaster. In many cases planning and
preparation can minimize damage and loss of life—or even avoid a
disaster entirely. For, as history repeatedly shows, many disasters
are caused not by nature but by human folly, shortsightedness, and
unethical conduct. For example, when a land developer wanted to
create a lake for his exclusive resort club in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny
Mountains in 1880, he ignored expert warnings and cut corners in
reconstructing an earthen dam. On May 31, 1889, the dam gave way,
unleashing 20 million tons of water on the towns below. The Johns-
town Flood, the deadliest in American history, claimed more than
2,200 lives. Greed and negligence would figure prominently in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911. Deplorable conditions in
the garment sweatshop, along with a failure to give any thought to the
safety of workers, led to the tragic deaths of 146 persons. Technology
outstripped wisdom only a year later, when the designers of the
INTRODUCTION 9
luxury liner Titanic smugly declared their state-of-the-art ship

“unsinkable,” seeing no need to provide lifeboat capacity for everyone
onboard. On the night of April 14, 1912, more than 1,500 passengers
and crew paid for this hubris with their lives after the ship collided
with an iceberg and sank. But human catastrophes aren’t always
the unforeseen consequences of carelessness or folly. In the 1940s the
leaders of Nazi Germany purposefully and systematically set out to
exterminate all Jews, along with Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally
ill, and other so-called undesirables. More recently terrorists have
targeted random members of society, blowing up airplanes and build-
ings in an effort to advance their political agendas.
The books in the GREAT DISASTERS: REFORMS AND RAMIFICATIONS
series examine these and other famous disasters, natural and human
made. They explain the causes of the disasters, describe in detail how
events unfolded, and paint vivid portraits of the people caught up in
dangerous circumstances. But these books are more than just accounts
of what happened to whom and why. For they place the disasters in
historical perspective, showing how people’s attitudes and actions
changed and detailing the steps society took in the wake of each
calamity. And in the end, the most important lesson we can learn from
any disaster—as well as the most fitting tribute to those who
suffered and died—is how to avoid a repeat in the future.
Bhopal is the capital city
of Madhya Pradesh, a
state in the central part
of India. More than 50
million people live in
this populous section
of the country.
Danger
Lies Ahead 1
A
s a very large country in southern Asia, India is the second most
populated country in the world, next to China, its neighbor to the
north. India is filled with jungles and deserts and is one of the
places in the world that receives the most rainfall. While the country has
many great natural resources, including rich farmlands, most of them have
not been sufficiently developed. This has left India with a low standard of
living. In fact, many citizens can barely afford the basic necessities of life.
More than 14 major languages and more than 1,000 minor languages
and dialects are spoken by the people who live in India. Although some
progress has been made in the country, many ways of life in India have
stayed the same for hundreds of years. It is not unusual to see ancient
customs alongside the latest advances of civilization and science. Cows,
which are considered sacred by millions of India’s Hindu population, often
11
12 BHOPAL
roam freely in modern business districts.

In the central part of India, more than 50 million
people live in the state known as Madhya Pradesh. The
capital city, Bhopal, became well known after a terrible
chemical accident took place there in the early hours of
December 3, 1984. In fact, the Bhopal chemical accident
that took place at the Union Carbide plant soon became
a massive industrial disaster that affected many people.
Long before that fateful day in 1984, the citizens of
India had been reaping the rewards from the employment
many had found when Union Carbide opened its first
plant in 1940. The company first began producing
batteries at a plant it had constructed in Calcutta. Later,
Union Carbide began producing flashlights as well.
Business was very good because the demand for batteries
was at an all-time high, thanks in part to the many
electronic toys and radios on sale around the world that
worked with batteries.
In the late 1960s, Union Carbide India, Limited
(UCIL), had built an additional 13 chemical plants
throughout the country. These factories were considered
a blessing by many of the people who were employed by
them. At one time, Union Carbide India was employing
over 10,000 people, who earned an average of 3,000 rupees
per month. Although these earnings equaled only $250 in
American currency, it was considered an excellent salary
by Indian standards.
Union Carbide was so successful that by 1969 it decided
to build its fourteenth chemical plant in the northern part of
Bhopal. When that plant first opened, it was to be used only
to import, package, and distribute raw fertilizer and some
pesticide products to other parts of India and East Asia.
Everyone who worked at the plant was happy to be
employed, and the officials at Union Carbide were happy
they had built another profitable factory.
DANGER LIES AHEAD 13
But in 1980, business costs were starting to be a concern

to officials at Union Carbide. After several meetings, the
administration and top executives of the company decided
they would use the Bhopal plant to manufacture pesticides.
They were planning on constructing a new production
unit at the existing site. For the employees who worked
there, this was the beginning of a nightmare they were not
prepared for. They would soon learn how to work with
and mix dangerous and deadly chemicals.
When word of Union Carbide’s plan to start using
deadly chemicals at Bhopal reached local officials, they
immediately voiced their objections. They were concerned
about the potential for a chemical accident that could
possibly poison the large population that lived in the areas
surrounding the plant. In addition, the railroad station
was located only a few miles from the plant; if a chemical
accident were to occur, officials were afraid that many
more lives would be threatened and harmed. Local
officials pleaded with Union Carbide to move their
operations to a less populated area.
Despite objections from local officials, many people
in the region were looking forward to the additional
employment opportunities that would result from the
expansion of the Bhopal plant. The expansion from the
perspective of Union Carbide seemed only natural, as
they had become a powerful industry in the region and
they did not want to move operations elsewhere.
Not surprisingly, Union Carbide got their wishes and
built the plant that would be able to manufacture the
deadly pesticides. The company was confident that the
safety measures they had in place would prevent any
accidents. But in December 1981, a worker named
Mohammed Khan died, and several other employees
were injured after being drenched with a deadly gas.
Khan and the other employees had been cleaning a pipe
14 BHOPAL
The worst fears of local when the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC) was
officials of Bhopal, India, released. MIC was one of the ingredients found in the
became a reality on pesticide Sevin™ (carbaril) a widely popular product sold
December 3, 1984,
worldwide by Union Carbide. At the Bhopal plant, there
when a deadly chemical
were a total of three specially built tanks that held more
accident at Union
Carbide killed 4,000 than 45 tons of MIC.
people. Seventeen The accident in 1981, however, was not the first
years to the day later, such accident that would plague the Bhopal plant. For
a survivor sits beside example, a routine safety inspection conducted by an
a sign calling for the American team in 1979 stressed the need for a plan to
arrest of Union Carbide be put into place that would notify people who lived in
former chairman the nearby area if a dangerous chemical spill were to
Warren Anderson.
happen. A year later, another safety expert said that a
disaster plan to evacuate local residents needed to be
put into place. However, local officials were never told
of these recommendations, and a disaster and evacua-
tion plan was never developed.
Over the next few years, the Bhopal plant continued to

operate on a normal basis. There were no major safety or
industrial accidents, and plant officials made many
changes that had been suggested by the safety experts
who had visited there over the past few years. No major
chemical leaks had occured, and everyone seemed satisfied
with how the operations at the plant were progressing.
The Bhopal plant did have one serious flaw that could
eventually cause a major chemical accident, however. The
flaw was with its manual backup system, which required
that in the event of a pump failure, an employee would
need to manually start the backup pump to keep the
chemicals from leaking through the pipes. Similar plants
in the United States and European countries had the
more efficient automatic backup system in place, which
meant that if a pump were to fail, a new pump would
automatically engage. The automatic backup systems
were considered safer and much more efficient than the
manual one that was in place at Bhopal. But the Bhopal
plant officials actually preferred the manual backup system
because it provided additional jobs for local people in the
area. More jobs meant that more people could provide for
their families and earn a living at the same time.
However, things started taking a turn for the worse
in the early part of 1981. Rising prices and the cost of
producing the pesticides at the Bhopal plant started
to have an impact on Union Carbide. Because Union
Carbide had to substantially raise their prices on the
pesticides they were selling, many people in the region
began to shop around for cheaper products. At the
same time, a worldwide interest in how pesticides were
affecting the environment was beginning to surface.
People were starting to take a second look at how pesti-
cides might be harming wildlife, the earth, and even their
own water supplies. Overall, it was beginning to be a
16 BHOPAL
César Chavez, farm labor difficult time to be a mass producer of pesticides at a

leader and activist, leads a time when cost and environmental issues were starting
demonstration in front of to be a concern to many consumers, both locally and
a supermarket in Philadel-
around the world.
phia, Pennsylvania, on
Plant managers began to cut back on costs wherever
November 14, 1985.
The group is protesting
they felt it was safe to do so. In some cases, employees
the use of pesticides on were told to patch leaky pipes rather than replace them,
fresh grapes. which was not always a safe idea. To make matters worse,
because of the economic problems that the Bhopal plant
management was experiencing, they were hiring workers
who were underqualified for many crucial positions.
The labor unions at the Bhopal plant did not like how
management was handling many safety issues concerning
the employees. In 1982, they staged a hunger strike, and
Union Carbide responded by firing everyone who was
involved. It didn’t take long for new workers to be hired,
because jobs in the region were almost nonexistent.
The Union Carbide Bhopal plant continued to have
problems with serious accidents. In just over three years,

more than 15 workers were injured after they were
exposed to several deadly chemicals, including MIC. By
1984, shortly before the world’s deadliest industrial and
chemical accident was about to take place, the Bhopal
plant had seen more than 45 people injured.
Awareness of Safety Problems Grows

Local citizens continued to ignore safety problems at
the Bhopal plant. However, local journalists began writing
a series of newspaper articles about the safety issues and
how it appeared as if Union Carbide was ignoring them
rather than fixing them. Several Bhopal chemical workers
had quit because of safety concerns.
After some initial investigative reporting, a journalist
named Raj Kumar Keswani began to question the Union
Carbide safety record—both in the United States and in
India. Keswani wrote several newspaper articles that
warned of the possibility of a major disaster that could take
place at the Bhopal plant in India. He wrote about the high
numbers of inexperienced employees who worked there
and the concern many of them had for the safety issues. In
addition, there were concerns about the many people who
lived near the plant. Shortly before the accident would take
place in December 1984, it was estimated that more than
125,000 people—nearly 20% of Bhopal’s population—
lived within a few miles of the plant.
Both government officials and the people of Bhopal
ignored the newspaper reporters’ warnings, and business
at the Union Carbide plant went on as usual. In the
last article Keswani wrote about the problems at the
Bhopal plant in 1984, he warned of a potential disaster so
devastating, no one in the area would live to tell about it.
Little did he or anyone else know how true his prediction
would become.
An
Unthinkable
Accident
View of the Union Carbide
Bhopal plant, which was the
scene of the devastating
chemical accident that killed
thousands of people and
injured tens of thousands
in Bhopal, India.
2
O
n the day of the accident, a worker by the name of Suman Dey
arrived for work for his regular night shift at the Union Carbide
Bhopal plant. The 26-year-old man was happy to be working at
such a facility and considered that what he did was an important job. In
fact, many area residents considered it an honor to be employed there.
The mood of the people was one of happiness that such a place was located
there, which offered so many job opportunities.
Dey had been working at Union Carbide for nearly four years, and
although he felt confident in performing his job duties, he knew the
dangers and risks in working around such dangerous chemicals. A year
earlier, Dey had inhaled a small amount of phosgene gas, which left
him hospitalized. He quickly learned that safety precautions needed
19
20 BHOPAL
to be taken, especially when working around such

deadly chemicals.
As Dey reported for work, he was happy. Although
he had hoped that he would have been promoted long
before now, he was still determined to do a good job
for his employer. He knew that one day his talents and
abilities would be recognized and that he surely would
be rewarded.
Dey was not one to cut corners nor to shy away from
his duties. If a certain task needed to be accomplished,
he would get the job done. On that particular night in
December, he saw that a worker on an earlier shift had
started cleaning some dirty pipes, but never finished the
task. That meant that Dey or someone on his shift would
have to be responsible for finishing the job.
From High Pressure to Leak

Apparently, several workers had attempted to clean
the dirty pipes, but were unable to complete the job before
their shift ended. So Dey took on the responsibility
himself. He was familiar with the pipes in the area of the
Bhopal plant that needed to be cleaned, and he was
resigned to do a good job.
According to later accounts, Dey was not concerned
when several of the pressure gauges showed an increase
in pressure by almost 8 pounds over a 30-minute
period. He knew that the pressure was still within the
safe range, so he didn’t give it much thought. At about
that same time, workers in another part of the plant
were assembling and waiting for their nightly orders.
Just after 11:30 P. M ., one of the workers reported
smelling MIC. At first the workers weren’t really
alarmed, because they had smelled MIC before. As
long as the MIC was at low enough levels, it would
not pose any serious safety hazards. Nevertheless,
AN UNTHINKABLE ACCIDENT 21
the workers immediately set out to find the source

of the MIC leak so they could repair it before it got
any worse.
Before anyone realized what was taking place, the
leak continued to get worse, and the pressure in the
pipes where Dey was working rose to dangerous levels.
The gauge that had read only 11 pounds just a short
time ago was now registering a shocking 45 pounds
per square inch. The temperature reading had also
risen to almost the top of the scale, and Dey knew
that before long the liquid in those pipes would be
turning into a deadly gas that would need somewhere
to escape.
Within minutes after Dey told his supervisor of
the dangerous temperature and pressure readings, the
concrete pipe began cracking from the intense heat.
With no safety valve strong enough to keep it from
escaping, the deadly gas began leaking from the pipe.
Just after midnight on December 3, 1984, a chemical
accident at the Bhopal plant resulted in the accidental
release of approximately 40 metric tons of MIC into
the atmosphere. The poison cloud quickly started
spreading through the air directly around the huts
and shanties that were located near the Bhopal plant.
Within minutes, the deadly cloud began silently
sneaking up on the unsuspecting residents, as well as
many Union Carbide employees.
Numerous Bhopal plant employees tried in vain to
contain or neutralize the MIC that was escaping.
After various attempts to stop the chemical from
spreading, by 1:30 A.M., Dey and the other employees
realized that they would not be able to stop the leak.
They were afraid for themselves, their fellow employ-
ees, and the residents that lived near the Bhopal
chemical plant.
22 BHOPAL
By this time most of the employees had put on gas

masks, and they were beginning to ask their supervisors if
they should begin evacuating the plant. According to
published reports, no one thought about sounding an
alarm at that point, which would warn the local residents
to flee the area. And most people would not have known
that a simple wet cloth held over their face and eyes
would save their lives.
Just after 2 A.M., an alarm was finally sounded. But
the workers were still not ordered to evacuate just yet.
Workers without gas masks and breathing devices were
told to go to a common meeting area in the plant first.
Those with gas masks were asked to remain at their posts,
especially anyone working in or near the source of the
chemical leak.
Many nearby residents awoke when they heard
the alarms coming from the Bhopal plant. Some
thought that the Bhopal plant was only testing their
alarms, which they had done in years past. Others
thought that there was a fire at the plant, and they
raced toward the front gate to get a better view.
Shortly after arriving near the front gates, the deadly
chemical cloud began engulfing the unsuspecting people.
Within minutes, these unsuspecting bystanders found
themselves coughing uncontrollably while trying to rub
the chemical’s sting from their eyes. But their efforts
were fruitless.
Many employees at the Union Carbide Bhopal
plant recognized the smell of the deadly gas but
were unable to save themselves. They did not have
gas masks close enough to save their own lives.
Some of the employees were fortunate enough to
know that breathing through a water-soaked cloth,
rag, or even an article of clothing would increase
their chances for survival.
Some of the residents who lived in the shantytowns A woman in Bhopal

nearby were Bhopal plant employees. As they woke up covers her face to
to the noise and confusion taking place all around protect herself from
the poisonous gas that
them, they quickly recognized the smell of the deadly
leaked from the Union
gas. One by one employees and their families were
Carbide factory.
awakened from a sound sleep to find themselves in
danger. Many screamed, “run for your lives,” but by
this time the deadly cloud was so large there simply
was no place left to escape.
24 BHOPAL
Those residents who were lucky enough to be a few

minutes ahead of the deadly chemical cloud were
caught in a stampede of hysterical people. People were
kicking and stepping on others who had fallen down or
who had been pushed in the melée that followed. Chaos
continued and large groups of people were literally
running around in circles trying to find refuge from the
poison gas.
A Train Arrives
About the same time, a train had arrived at the
train station, and unsuspecting passengers and their
families were going about their normal everyday
lives. Despite the lateness of the hour, people were
hustling and bustling around as if it were the middle
of the day. As people realized they were hearing the
alarms sounding at the Bhopal chemical plant, many
thought that perhaps there was a fire at the plant. No
one had ever suspected a deadly chemical accident
had taken place. Within a few minutes, the passengers
began to hear the screams of the hordes of people
who had been trying to escape from the deadly cloud
of poison gas. As the sounds reached the area of the
train station and its passengers, so did the deadly
cloud of gas. People began choking and rubbing their
eyes to try to stop them from stinging so badly. It did
not take very long for the scene to go from calm to
chaos. Dozens of people began dying.
Fortunately, the stationmaster was able to alert the
train’s engineer to the perilous situation in and
around the Bhopal plant and he pulled the train out of
the station before anyone on board was injured or killed.
Because it was December, the shutters on the train
were closed, and no deadly gas was able to penetrate
the cars.
Journalist Keswani Awakens

At the same time that all the chaos was taking
place, the journalist, Rajkumar Keswani, woke up in
his home at around 1:30 A.M. He was struggling to
breathe normally and at first didn’t realize what was
happening. He had long written warnings of possible
chemical leaks at a plant the size of the Union Carbide
Bhopal plant, but little did he realize that his warnings
were about to turn into a nightmare for everyone in
the area.
As Keswani tried to shut the windows of his home,
he saw the chaos outside. He witnessed hundreds of
people fleeing down the street, and watched in horror
as people quickly dropped onto the ground, writhing in
pain. He gathered his wife, and together they sat under
a fan while he telephoned the local police station. As he
asked the dispatcher who answered the telephone
what was happening, he was horrified at the response:
“It’s Union Carbide! A tank has burst and none of us
will survive!”
The sudden realization that a nightmare beyond his
imagination was taking place before his very eyes was
too much for Keswani. All his warnings had fallen on
deaf ears, and now everyone was paying the price. But
somehow he knew he had to try and save his family
from the disaster that was taking place all around them.
He and his family lived only about a mile away from the
Bhopal plant, and he knew he had to act quickly or
everyone would surely die.
With some quick thinking, Keswani told his family
to take wet cloths and place them over their faces. His
family owned two motor scooters, and he had his
brother drive their parents to safety. Keswani then took
his wife and his sister on the back of one of the motor
26 BHOPAL
scooters. In his anger, however, instead of driving away

from Bhopal, he found himself driving toward the
Union Carbide plant.
His wife screamed and begged him to turn the
other way and drive to safety as quickly as possible.
But Keswani was angry, and he could not wait to
drive to the Union Carbide Bhopal plant and kill the
people that were responsible for allowing the deadly
chemicals to leak. Luckily, for him and his family, he
started to come to his senses. He realized that if he
continued driving so fast in the direction of the
Bhopal plant, he was signing his death warrant, and
that of his wife and sister. Keswani quickly turned
around and drove as fast as the motor scooter would
take him to safety. He vowed one day to return and
take his revenge on those people responsible for the
deadly chemical accident.
Mob Scene at the Hospital

The local hospital filled quickly with people
who had somehow managed to get there in hopes of
being treated. The Hamidia Hospital was located just
less than three miles south of the Union Carbide
Bhopal plant, and the first patients had started to
arrive just after 1 A . M . They were complaining of
chest pains, and they were having trouble breathing
and seeing.
As the wind shifted at the Bhopal plant, the deadly
gas quickly spread over a wider area, and within a few
minutes, about 300 more people arrived at Hamidia
Hospital. At about 2:30 A.M., nearly 4,000 people had
arrived at the hospital, hoping to be treated. The hospital
was not large, having only 750 beds available. Many of the
people who made it to the hospital had dropped to the
carpet and lay dying.
The medical superintendent of the hospital was

Dr. N. R. Bhandari, who was home at the time of the
chemical accident. When the staff of the hospital
called him for instructions, he was not alarmed. A
very confident man, he at first did not think that the
chemical leak was anything too serious. He instructed
the staff to wash out the patients’ eyes and to admin-
ister eyedrops, and he assured them that would take
care of any of the patients’ problems. Feeling that he had
adequately taken care of the problem, Dr. Bhandari
returned to bed.
Only a few minutes had passed by before Bhandari
heard a knock at his front door. Almost a dozen student
doctors were coming to his home to ask what had
happened. They had not heard anything official about a
chemical leak, and they wanted Dr. Bhandari to tell
them what to do. Some of the student doctors were
beginning to feel the eye irritation, and they wanted
instructions on how to best take care of themselves. He
immediately told them to wash out their eyes.
As Dr. Bhandari turned on the fans in his home, he
called the local police chief, Swaraj Puri. He asked Puri
if there had been an excessive number of complaints
about anything dangerous in the air. At about the same
time, he received the telephone call from the doctor,
Police Chief Puri had himself just learned what had
happened at the Union Carbide Bhopal plant. He
informed the doctor that a gas leak had indeed taken
place at the Bhopal plant, and that he was in the process
of looking into the situation.
Puri told Dr. Bhandari that the hospital could expect
hundreds of people seeking treatment. Little did either
man realize how many people would actually end up
going to the hospital for help. Because of the way the
dangerous cloud was traveling, along with the huge
28 BHOPAL
Mother Theresa comforts population nearby, by noon the next day an estimated
this victim of the Bhopal 25,000 people had gone to the hospital for help.
chemical disaster in A doctor at Hamidia Hospital described the chaos in
December 1984.
these words: “I was standing in the pediatric department.
There was such a terrible crowd that there wasn’t even a
place to keep the bodies on the floor. As soon as a patient
was declared dead, his relatives would vanish with the
body. I saw at least 50 babies taken away like this. I
would estimate that anywhere between 500 and
1,000 bodies were taken away before their deaths
could be registered.”
By the time dawn had arrived just six or seven short
hours after the chemical leak had taken place, countless
numbers of people were pouring into hospitals nearby.
People were so terrified that mass hysteria had taken
over. Countless people were becoming blind and collaps-

ing in the street. The agony of the survivors was best
captured in media reports from India, and by those who
were able to give their first-hand account of what had
taken place. A survivor’s words were reported in India
Today, India’s version of Time Magazine in the United
States, in the February 15, 1985 issue:
The dead may not have been so unlucky after all. Their
end came horribly, it is true, choking on air that had
suddenly gone vile. But at least the nightmare was brief.
And then it was over. For those who survived the
poisonous methyl isocyanate (MIC) leak from the
Union Carbide plant, release will not come quickly.
Thousands of the seriously affected survivors
have suffered such extensive lung damage that they
can no longer apply themselves physically. Their vision
often gets blurred, spells of dizziness overtake them,
and walking briskly even for a few minutes sends
them gasping to their knees, their chests aching.
There are women who have peculiar gynecological
problems. And there are others—particularly children
—who keep reliving those awful hours over and
over again.
Survivors’ Stories
There were many stories of heroes that surfaced after
the tragedy was over. Among three very notable heroes
were three employees who worked on the railway. B. B.
Sharma, V. R. Dixit, and B. K. Sharma all were on duty
when the chemical leak occured. Because the train
station is located near the Bhopal plant, they were over-
come by the deadly gas fumes, but somehow managed to
stay at their posts to prevent other trains from coming in
or near Bhopal.
30 BHOPAL
Survivors of the worst chemical disaster in history

have recorded their testimonies for future generations to
read. Here are just a few first-hand accounts of the horror
from that evening:
Fifteen years ago I woke up in the middle of the night
crying and coughing. One by one, all the other members
in our household got up too with tears streaming down
their eyes and something burning their throats. The
adults tried to figure out what the unusual smell in the
air was but gave up. They closed all the windows and we
all went back to sleep.
Of course, I do not remember this incident at all, I
was seven months old at the time, but much later, I
found out the details. My family and I had been visiting
my aunt in Bhopal, India. On the night of December 2,
1984, the Union Carbide Factory at Bhopal sprung a gas
leak. Tons of Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC), hydrogen
cyanide, and other lethal gases were released into the air.
My parents have told me numerous times about how
fortunate we were that the wind had changed direction
before much of the gas reached our house. However,
there were many who were not as lucky as us.
Official figures stated 1,600 people died in the immedi-
ate aftermath of the leak. Realistic figures, which include
the many impoverished roadside dwellers with no actual
address, are closer to above 8,000. In addition, long term
effects of the gases have increased the death toll to over
16,000, with many more still suffering from sicknesses
most likely to result in early death. Adequate treatment
has not been available for many of the living victims.
In a recent trip to Bhopal, about a year ago, I met a
man named Satinath Sarangi (Sathyu). Although he
had graduated from college as a metallurgical engineer,
he immediately came to help the people in Bhopal after
hearing on the radio of the gas leak. Now he has given
up his engineering profession and is a trustee of the

Sambhavna Trust, an organization dedicated to helping
victims of the gas disaster through research and treat-
ment. He has no regrets.
In addition to providing a variety of treatments for
the victims, including both standard medical treatment
and alternative methods like ayurveda and yoga, the
Sambhavna Trust also helps to simply remember the
tragedy of the gas leak. The accident had been caused,
or at least helped, by carelessness. The Union Carbide
factory siren had not gone off; the people had no idea of
the danger of the gas until it was upon them, destroying
their lungs and other internal organs. Officials at
the factory also failed to act quickly, failing to prevent
further disaster. It would be careless now, on the fifteenth
anniversary of this tragic event, not to remember what
happened. In the case of the Bhopal gas leak, it would be
best to learn from our mistake.
Sumeet Ajmani
Seabury Hall
102-17 Kaui Place
Kula, HI 96790
I was just eight days old and still in the hospital when the
gas leaked. My father who was with me then, told me,
doctors put me in a glass box, but I still got gas in my eyes
and through my breath. My father also got hit by the gas.
My mother and elder sister and brother were at home.
They did not run away, all night they stayed under a thick
quilt. My mother went out to see what the commotion
was all about and she got quite badly affected. She coughs
all the time and gets fever often. Her body aches and she
has pain in her hands and legs. My father has pain in his
stomach. After the gas they kept me in the hospital for
about 15 days then all of us went to our village.
32 BHOPAL
I study in fifth grade. Early this year I had gone to my

grandmother’s place. We had gone for two months but
then my uncle broke his leg in an accident so we had to
stay longer. When I came back they won’t take me
back at school. I liked going to school. I used to study
Science, Hindi, Social Science and English. Most of all
I liked studying science because you learn about how
the body works and how things work. When I grow up
I want to become a science teacher or a doctor. Most of
all I want to become a good man.
I like playing cricket. I think the Indian team is
the best in the world and Sachin Tendulkar is the
very best. Azharuddin and, Nayan Mongia and
Saurav Ganguly are pretty good too. When I play
cricket I can’t make many runs because I get breath-
less when I run and my chest hurts. I would like to
watch cricket on TV but I cant because my eyes hurt
and get filled with tears when I watch TV. My eyes
hurt when I read. My friends too have all kinds of
health problems. I have many friends but there are
about ten with whom I am closest.
We live right across the Carbide factory. So many
people in our community are sick. So many have
died. And people are still dying after they have been
sick for a long time. People cant breathe properly, they
often have fever, aches and pain in their stomach.
Men and women have become weak. Lots of people
cannot go to work.
I do not know who is the owner of the factory. One
of my neighbours told me they used to make poisons to
kill insects in the factory. I think no body should make
poisons. Why kill insects, or rats or any other living
thing. They have their life and we have our own. Why
kill? The poisons from the factory have come into our
drinking water wells. There is poison all around.
This woman is collecting

water in front of the
Union Carbide plant on
February 27, 1985. She
and many others living
in slum areas around
the plant suffer after-
effects from the
chemical accident.
34 BHOPAL
Some people in my neighbourhood remind me that I

stayed alive even though I was so small while so many
people died. They make it sound like I brought on all
this on the people. That makes me really sad.
Kundan
(8 days old at time of tragedy)
I was ten years old when the gas leaked. In our neigh-
bourhood there was a house where snakes had built
their nest. The people in the house used to burn chill-
ies to drive away the snakes. On the night of the gas
when all of us woke up coughing and gasping for
breath, the first thought that came to our mind was
that it was the snake cure gone awry. We opened the
door and saw a great number of people all rushing
past. Soon we came to know that it was gas coming
from Union Carbide’s factory. My father said “Lets
not run away, because we will surely get separated
from each other in this crowd and darkness. If we
have to die at least let us die together.” All of us were
coughing and vomiting and it was getting more and
more unbearable. My grandparents had come for a
visit, they too were in a miserable state. We opened
the door after about four hours. In the morning we
went to a tent that had been set up on the roadside
and got some medicines from there—eye drops and
pills. But these were of no use. My four year old sister
Asha died three days after the gas.
My father used to work in a sweet shop making
sweets. Ever since the gas he can hardly work. There
are times when he thrashes about all night like a fish
out of water. Most days he stays in bed. My grandfather
used to get very breathless and cough a lot. He suffered
this for four years till he died.
I got married when I was seventeen. My husband
used to live in the same neighbourhood. He is a

carpenter but can work for hardly fifteen days in a
month. He has cough, pain in the chest and can not
see properly. He was not given any compensation
because he could not present his medical records.
During the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992 his parents’
house caught fire and all the papers got burnt. My
parents could not get any compensation for the death
of my sister and grandfather. The judge asked for
papers, but who was thinking of papers three days
after the disaster. The officials said that my grand-
father did not live in Bhopal and we had to provide
documents to show that he was with us on the night
of the disaster.
Sharda Vishwakarma
(10 years old at time of chemical leak)
We had had a normal evening at home. I, my four

daughter-in laws, my five sons and my daughter.
We’d eaten and then gone to sleep. I was the one who
woke first. I lay alone in my room and started getting
irritated that maybe my daughter-in-laws were
burning chillies on the stove. I started shouted and
swearing at them. I went to the kitchen where I saw
the stove was cold. By this time all my sons and
daughter-in-laws had been woken up by my shout-
ing. Smoke started to fill everywhere. Outside people
were running and shouting “bhago, bhago.” (“Run,
run”.) We found out from people around that there had
been a leak from carbide. We couldn’t see anything, we
were coughing and kept having loose motions. My
grandson was one years old then. I put him on my chest
to protect him as much as possible. But his face swelled
to twice its size, his eyes were puffed tight. We were
really scarred. My daughter-in-law was pregnant
36 BHOPAL
then. I could not tell her how deformed her son had
become. We thought we were going to die. I kept
praying “Allah miah hame bacha lijiye, Allah miah
hame bacha lijiye.” (“Dear God, please save us, dear
Lord, please save us.”)
Pretty soon I felt weak and within half an hour I
began to pass out. My daughter-in-laws put water on
me and tried to get me dressed. They managed to put
me in a petticoat. By now, there was so much smoke
in the house that we couldn’t even see the pots.
Two of my sons had gone to see what had happened.
The smaller one was sent back with a message that
we should go towards DIG bungalow because there
was no gas there. My eyes were now so swollen that
I couldn’t see out of them. So about an hour after I first
felt the gas, we left the house, my daughter-in-laws
held me by the hands. The streets were full of
corpses. The skins of people were full of blisters.
Nobody could be recognised.
We made it to DIG bungalow and then went and
sat outside the factory. Many people were there in the
same state that we were in. We all just thought of
saving ourselves. We stayed there all night and in the
morning some doctors came and gave us some red
medicine. The military trucks came and took us to
“bara sau pachas” (“1250”) to the camp.
My daughter who lived near the station sat outside
her house with her 20 day old son. She sat there not
moving whilst someone came and stole her silver
anklet. My son died one month later.
Look at the state of me now. I can’t do anything.
There has been so much sickness from the gas. I also
no longer wear saris. A relative of mine who was
wearing a sari got thrown onto a pyre. She was just
unconscious. She woke up and ran. Since then no
woman in my family wears a sari. We figure that if

something else happens to us we should at least be
sent off in the proper way (Zubeda Bi is muslim and
would wish to be buried). Otherwise people might
think we were Hindus and cremate us.”
Zubeda Bi
(46 years old when the
chemical leak occurred)
What
Happened
Next
Some of the thousands of
people injured by breathing
harmful air from a poisonous
chemical leak from the
Bhopal Union Carbide
plant are waiting to be
treated. Most common
injuries among survivors
are shortness of breath,
red eyes, and nausea.
3
A
s the seriousness of the tragedy began to sink into the minds of
everyone who had been in the middle of this unspeakable crisis,
there were many questions: “What had happened?” “What kind
of a chemical leak was this? “Why were so many people dying?” “Isn’t
there anything we can do to stop the killing?”
Examining the Dead

The head of the forensic medicine and toxicology department at
Gandhi Medical College was a doctor named Hireesh Chandra. He
was home sleeping soundly while all of the chaos was taking place.
But he was awakened at around 5:30 A.M. and informed of what was
happening. He quickly went to the hospital with a colleague, and both
39
40 BHOPAL
were shocked at what they saw there. They could not

imagine what was causing so many people to be affected
at the same time. Dr. Chandra directed another doctor to
start performing autopsies on several of the victims. He
wanted to find out what was causing everyone to die,
in hopes that he might prevent other people from
dying unnecessarily.
While the other doctors were performing autopsies
on the bodies that had already perished, Dr. Chandra
was busy researching everything he could about the
chemical MIC. Because there was so little information
about MIC in the hospital library, he wasn’t able to
learn anything really new. He realized that MIC,
which by itself was not supposed to be deadly, had
somehow managed to cause death and destruction
among so many innocent people.
As Chandra himself began performing autopsies on
some victims who had passed away, he was shocked to
find that many had thick, cherry-red blood and lungs
that were ash covered. He also detected a scent of bitter
almonds, which is the odor of cyanide, which would
explain that these people had somehow died of cyanide
poisoning. He then wondered if the MIC had mixed with
the water in people’s bodies to produce hydrocyanide as
well as a combination of other deadly gases. During the
first 24 hours after the chemical spill, Dr. Chandra had
assembled a small team of doctors who spent hours
performing over 150 autopsies. Each time they examined
a victim of the tragedy, they found the same results: what
seemed to be plain evidence that the patient had died
from cyanide poisoning.
Over the next few hours chaos continued. Rumors
were being spread by everyone. No one really knew the
truth about what had happened, because at the time
even the employees at the Union Carbide Bhopal plant
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT 41
still were not sure what had taken place.

Back inside the Hamidia Hospital, the dead bodies
were first placed in the morgue. However, owing to the
large numbers of people who passed away, the morgue
quickly filled up, and doctors, nurses, and other volunteers
at the hospital began placing the cadavers outside on
the lawn.
Not Really Dead

It was reported that some of the people who were
declared dead were done so accidentally. Several books
written about the Bhopal tragedy tell of a man named
Sayed Abbas, who was declared dead and then placed
in the hospital morgue. About 5:30 in the morning,
Abbas regained consciousness and suddenly realized
where he was. Because the morgue was kept at a very
cold temperature to preserve the bodies, it was freezing
and Abbas was only covered with a sheet. However, the
bodies that had been placed all around him and literally
on top of him had kept him warm. So when he woke
up, he grabbed his sheet and ran out of the morgue.
Several guards who had been assigned to keep people
from entering the morgue in search of their loved ones
were startled and thought for sure that someone had
“risen from the dead!”
Another bizarre story tells of Munnibai Balkishensingh,
a woman who worked at the local rail station as the
water woman. After she was overcome by the deadly
fumes, she passed out and people mistook her for one
of a dozen of dead bodies that they had stumbled
across. She was eventually placed in a large pile of
bodies that apparently had no heartbeat and were
presumed to be dead. Local health officials were afraid
of an epidemic of cholera if the corpses were not
immediately cremated. So when a doctor could detect
42 BHOPAL
no sign of a heartbeat from Munnibai, she was placed

on a truck with a large number of dead bodies and
taken away to be part of a mass cremation. Luckily for
Munnibai, as soon as the wood was lit on fire and she
was about to be burned alive, someone noticed her foot
beginning to move. A man who was standing nearby
quickly grabbed her and pulled her body out of the
flames. She was lucky enough to be taken to a local
hospital, where she recovered.
Too Many Injured, Too Few Doctors,

and Too Few Supplies
Because of their limited medical facilities, no hospital
in the area was prepared to treat the 20,000 people who
sought treatment and help from their misery and pain.
Patients kept coming through the doors, and it didn’t
take long for the staff to be overwhelmed and out-
numbered. People could not be seen because there was
literally no room in the waiting rooms, the treatment
rooms, or any of the wards. Many patients ended up on
the lawns in front of the hospitals. Some died there, a
swift and painful death, while others, still writhing in
pain, continued to lie there for hours and hours, waiting
for someone—anyone—to come and make their pain
go away.
According to published reports from the Indian
Council of Medical Research, “between eight and ten
thousand people were treated at Hamidia Hospital for
eye problems on the first day, including for ‘intense
burning of the eyes, profuse lacrimation, photophobia
and blepherospasm, and visual disturbances.’ Others
suffered from intense gastritis, burning sensations,
vomiting, and diarrhea, and many patients lapsed into
unconsciousness, asphyxia and coma.”
Shortages of medical supplies and equipment were
apparent because of the large numbers of patients On December 10, 1984,

seeking treatment for their pain and suffering. In Alan W. Johns, OBE Direc-
addition, most of the local medical doctors and nurses tor, Royal Commonwealth
Society for Blind England,
had limited knowledge of MIC and how to treat
(center) arrives in India to
patients who had been exposed to it. They did have the
discuss how to treat the
literature that Union Carbide had provided, but none of injured with Dr. Rajenora
the literature ever mentioned a disaster of this magnitude Vyas (right) and Dr. Kerr
as a distinct possibility. Muir (left). There is great
Despite the doctors’ efforts to treat everyone, there concern about blindness
were simply not enough medical supplies to ensure, for among survivors.
example, that each person would have a clean syringe,
so needles were used over and over again, which
greatly increased the patients’ risk of infection. But
that was a risk the doctors were willing to take, and
44 BHOPAL
they felt the danger of infection was far less than the
danger of the chemical reaction that many people were
experiencing at the time.
There were also inadequate supplies of neosporin,
which normally is an effective eye medication. The
hospital at Hamidia only had 100 cylinders of oxygen
on hand, along with just a few respirators. “How could
they possibly expect to treat so many patients who kept
coming and coming and who obviously needed to be
treated for damage to their lungs,” the doctors and
nurses kept asking.
For several days following the chemical leak, there
were conflicting reports as to how many people had
become victims of the tragedy. According to unofficial
estimates, it was reported that about 100,000 people had
been affected by the gas in one way or another. That
included people who had been directly in the path of the
escaping deadly gas, as well as people who had inhaled or
consumed fruits and vegetables or water that had been
affected by the gas. There were also conflicting numbers
reported by the local government officials. According to
the author of A Killing Wind: Inside Union Carbide and the
Bhopal Catastrophe “two years after the catastrophe, the
government would say about 2,500, but evidence points
to a figure closer to 8,000.”
Several investigations by officials, Union Carbide
representatives, Red Cross, and other organizations all
revealed different numbers of people who had been
affected by the chemical leak. According to various
crematorium records, approximately 3,000 Hindu
bodies were burned in the 18 months after the accident.
Local evidence concluded that by early 1986 about
8,000 people died from the direct effects of the gas. But
the government refused to include deaths that took
place long after the accident.
Because of the numbers of casualties, death certifi-

cates were not filed for everyone who passed away that
fateful evening. There was simply not enough time for
the doctors to complete any type of paperwork; they
were too busy trying to save lives and treat the
wounded and ill. This partly explains the differences in
the numbers of people who should have been counted
as direct casualties of the deadly chemical accident at
the Bhopal plant.
Engineers from another nearby company, Bharat
Heavy Electricals, Ltd., were able to enter the Union
Carbide Bhopal plant, find the leak, and repair it. How-
ever, even though it was only about an hour after the
leak had started, all the deadly gas had escaped.
Throughout the streets bodies continued to pile up,
along with the decomposing bodies of water buffalo and
even cattle. By the next morning, several construction
cranes were sent to remove the debris, people, and
animals that lay dead in the streets.
Warren M. Anderson,
chairman of the board of
Union Carbide at the time
of the disaster, speaks to
the media on December
10, 1984. He acknowl-
edges previous safety
problems in the plant
in India, but does not
acknowledge that these
problems have any
connection to the
poisonous gas leak.
Union
Carbide
Responds 4
B
ecause there were only two telephone trunk lines serving the central
Indian city of more than 750,000 people, information was slow to
arrive and often came in bits and pieces. During the first few hours
after they had been informed of the incident, people had to rely on BBC
radio news reports coming out of New Delhi and Bombay.
By the time news of the chemical accident and its aftermath made its way
to the United States and to Union Carbide’s headquarters, it was already after-
noon in India. The chairman of Union Carbide was Warren M. Anderson,
and he received a telephone call informing him of the chemical leak.
Union Carbide Talks to the Media

At 1 P.M. EST (Eastern Standard Time) on December 3, 1984, Union
Carbide officials held their first official press conference at the Danbury
47
48 BHOPAL
Hilton hotel in Connecticut. They kept their first press

conference relatively short and held to the facts that
they could confirm: Yes, a chemical accident had taken
place at a plant owned by Union Carbide India, Ltd., in
which they owned a 50.9% share. Officials explained
how they were dispatching medical teams and teams of
technical experts to help contain and dispose of any
remaining chemicals. They also announced that they
were halting production at their only other facility
where MIC was being produced at a plant in West
Virginia. They stressed that they would keep everyone
informed of new information as soon it was received
and confirmed. At that point, rumors were still flying
as to what had happened and how many people had
actually been killed or injured.
Over the next few days Union Carbide officials
kept holding press conferences to keep everyone
informed of what was happening in Bhopal and nearby
communities. Press coverage of the Bhopal chemical
accident was intense. They had to respond to hundreds
of media inquiries from countries the word over. Major
newspapers from all around the world carried the
Bhopal chemical accident as a front-page breaking
news story. For weeks after the incident, newspapers
and magazines kept the story alive because there were
so many stories to tell. Eventually, though, the media
coverage turned from one of “disaster and survivor”
coverage to a story that would become a complex legal
drama. Scientists and engineers from around the world
lent their expertise to try and get to the cause of the
chemical leak.
Policies for Dealing with the Accident

In response to the many questions, both from the
media and government agencies, Union Carbide did
UNION CARBIDE RESPONDS 49
implement some important policies rather quickly.
• The West Virginia plant that manufactured MIC

was quickly closed and stayed closed until safety
measures were reexamined and more became
known about the cause of the Bhopal tragedy.
• A management task force was formed headed by
chairman of the board of Union Carbide, Warren
Anderson. The management task force took on
the role of dealing with the Bhopal crisis head on.
• Chairman Anderson, in an effort to show how
much the company cared, took full responsibil-
ity for the terrible tragedy, and accepted moral
responsibility for the incident at a December 4th
news conference. He announced that he and a
team would be traveling to India at once to offer
$1 million in aid to the victims.
• A medical and technical team was dispatched to
the Bhopal scene within 24 hours of the incident.
Their goal was to arrange for immediate and
long-term relief, to assist in the safe disposal of
any remaining MIC supplies at the plant, and to
investigate the cause of the accident.
According to the Jackson Browning Report by the

Union Carbide Corporation, “Because of the obstacles
placed in our way by Indian authorities, it would be
March 1985 before we could point with certainty to the
cause. In the interim, we took the heat.”
Union Carbide, like most major corporations, did
have a contingency plan for emergencies. The plan
called for the step-by-step framework and offered
guidelines on how to respond to emergencies. But no
plan had ever prepared the Union Carbide officials, or
50 BHOPAL
anyone else for that matter, for the tragedy at the Bhopal
plant in India.
The long hours, dedication, and efforts by many
company employees helped Union Carbide to deal with
what had taken place. Union Carbide had earned the
trust, respect, and admiration of many people, and they
wanted to show the world they were going to take
responsibility for the disaster and fix all future
problems. Union Carbide knew that they had to deal
with the problem of any leftover MIC in the plant
before any further incidents or accidents could take
place. But their efforts to send in a technical team of
experts were blocked at first by the Indian government.
The Indian government, along with local residents, did
not trust Union Carbide at this point. Everyone was
afraid that something terrible would happen again, just
by simply letting a technical team go into the plant.
Union Carbide was finally able to convince the
Indian government that it was absolutely necessary to
send in a technical team to convert any remaining MIC
into a less volatile compound. “Operation Faith” was
soon launched. However, hordes of people demanded
to be evacuated from the Bhopal area before it would
take place. The Indian military sent several planes
filled with water overhead of the Bhopal plant. They
were ready on a moment’s notice to drop water over
any chemical cloud that might contain the deadly
mixture of MIC.
Anderson’s Visit to Bhopal

On December 7, an Indian Airlines jet landed at
Bhopal’s Bairagarh Airport with Warren Anderson
and a team of colleagues. Anderson had decided not
to use the corporate jet to keep a low profile. He did
not want to appear that he was a rich corporate leader
View of the general

office buildings and
skyscraper of Union
Carbide in New York
City, New York.
who was uncaring about what had happened to the

people in and around Bhopal. As the team departed
the plane, they were met by a band of police officers.
At first, Anderson thought they were simply being
offered a police escort as a security precaution. As the
door to the airplane was opened, the police officers
52 BHOPAL
entered and asked for Mr. Anderson, Mr. Mahindra,

and Mr. Gokhale to please stand up and step for-
ward. Everyone else was told to remain in their seats
for the time being.
As the three men exited the plane, they were met
by Police Superintendent Swaraj Puri and District
Collector Moti Singh. They were then directed to a
car that had been driven onto the tarmac near the
airplane. The car sped away and left through a side
gate to avoid the hordes of media that had gathered to
cover their arrival.
A few minutes later, the car arrived at a guesthouse,
and the three men were directed to a suite of rooms
that were usually reserved for VIPs. Anderson and his
companions noted that there were over three dozen police
officers standing guard around the building. At that
point, the police officers told Anderson and the others
that they were under arrest.
Anderson asked what the charges were, and he
was told they were being placed under house arrest
for their own protection. The police said they were not
sure they could guarantee their safety if they were
allowed to roam the streets by themselves. Anderson was
told that his meeting with Chief Minister Singh would
be allowed to take place later that day. At about
11 A . M . that morning, Police Superintendent Puri
returned with Chief Minister Singh and they brought
with them a city magistrate. The Union Carbide
executives thought for sure they were about to be
released. Instead, they were shocked when they were
told that the city magistrate was there to file charges
against them.
The charges included culpable homicide not amount-
ing to murder; culpable homicide causing death by
negligence; mischief in the killing of livestock; making
the atmosphere noxious for health; and negligent conduct

with respect to poisonous substances. Anderson was
worried, because he knew those first two charges
carried a penalty of life imprisonment.
Later that day Anderson was released and allowed to
return to the United States. At first, he refused to leave
without his two companions, men whom he had known
for years. But they convinced him that he should go,
because he would be able to do more good back in the
United States than as a prisoner in Bhopal. Reluctantly,
Anderson agreed and was allowed to go free.
New Legislation
Both Union Carbide and the government of India
sponsored investigations into the incident. However,
both Union Carbide and the government of India were
parties to the associated lawsuit. As a result, very few
issues about the incident were not in dispute. For
example, both parties agreed that the MIC release was
due to a violent reaction from the inappropriate intro-
duction of water into the storage tank. How the water
reached the tank and the capacity of the plant to safely
handle this problem were issues addressed in the trial.
In 1985, the Government of India passed the
Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act. This act made the
government of India the representative for all individ-
uals seeking compensation from the incident. When
the cases were combined in the U.S. court system, there
were approximately 145 actions involving 200,000
plaintiffs. In 1986, the U.S. District Court of southern
New York found in favor of Union Carbide and
directed that the trial be moved to India.
The government of India contended that Union
Carbide was actively involved in the detailed plant
design and that while finalizing the plant design Union
54 BHOPAL
Carbide intentionally reduced or eliminated safety items.

During plant operation the Indian government claimed
that Union Carbide failed to ensure that appropriate
maintenance was performed on the Bhopal plant’s
infrastructure or that the recommendations of safety
audit teams were implemented. For example, the MIC
should have been vented through a scrubber and flare
tower before exiting the facility, but a leaking vent line
released the MIC directly to the atmosphere. Moreover,
the MIC that did reach the scrubber was not removed
because neither the scrubber nor the flare tower was
operational at the time of the incident. (If all the MIC
reached the scrubber, and the scrubber and flare tower
were operational, however, there may still have been a
release, since it is believed that the venting MIC would
have exceeded the scrubber design capacity.)
Union Carbide disputed these claims, stating that
although it had provided the basic MIC unit design to
Union Carbide India, Ltd., the government of India
had prohibited Union Carbide’s active participation in
the final plant design. Union Carbide asserted that it
had provided appropriate training, which included
sending some workers to Institute, West Virginia for
training. Moreover, Union Carbide contended that
Union Carbide India, Ltd., management was generally
responsible for safety and maintenance at the plant
and that the government of India was the responsible
regulator of the plant. Ultimately, after reviewing the
plant records, interviewing plant employees, and
studying the incident, Union Carbide concluded that
the MIC storage tank was sabotaged.
The trial ended in 1989 when the Supreme Court
of India ordered Union Carbide and Union Carbide
India, Ltd., to pay $470 million in damages to the
government of India. The settlement was challenged
The Chairman and chief

executive officer of
Union Carbide, Robert
D. Kennedy, speaks to
stockholders about the
settlement against Union
Carbide of America and
Union Carbide of India
to pay damages to the
government of India
in 1989.
in 1991. The courts upheld the civil settlement, but

allowed the criminal case to be reopened. The criminal
case remains open today, and Union Carbide has sold
its stake in Union Carbide India, Ltd.
In August 1985, the Union Carbide sister plant in
Institute, West Virginia, released a cloud of methylene
chloride and aldicarb oxide that affected four neighbor-
ing communities and led to the hospitalization of over
100 people. In the wake of this and the Bhopal incident,
56 BHOPAL
Congress passed the 1986 Emergency Planning and

Community Right to Know Act. This act, implemented
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), facili-
tates state and local accident contingency planning,
public participation, and access by individuals and
communities to information regarding hazardous
materials in their locales.
In 1990, while developing the Clean Air Act
Amendments, the Senate considered an EPA analysis
that compared U.S. chemical incidents in the early
to mid 1980s with the Bhopal incident. Of the 29
incidents considered, 17 incidents in the United
States involved release of sufficient volumes of
chemicals with such toxicity that the potential conse-
quences (depending on weather conditions and plant
location) could have been more severe than in Bhopal.
Based on the incident review and existing state and
federal programs, the Senate concluded that accident
prevention had not been given sufficient attention in
the existing federal programs.
After reviewing the analysis by the EPA, the Senate
wrote amendments to the Clean Air Act that assigned
the task of developing programs to prevent chemical
incidents to the EPA and the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA). Congress autho-
rized the EPA to promulgate the Risk Management
Program Rule for protection of the public and authorized
OSHA to promulgate the Process Safety Management
Standard to protect workers. The two programs share a
requirement for covered facilities to develop accident
prevention plans; other provisions are complementary.
The amendments also established the independent U.S.
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Using the National Transportation Safety Board as a
model, the amendments assigned the Board the task of
investigating and reporting on the causes and probable

causes of domestic chemical incidents. Moreover, the
Senate recommended that the Board provide investigative
assistance to other countries both as a means of helping
and as a means of learning. Through its international
outreach efforts to government and industry, the
National Transportation Safety Board can ensure its
safety research program, professional services, and
technical information accurately and adequately address
the world’s chemical safety.
A Long
Period of
Suffering
Victim of chemical acci-
dent at Bhopal indicates
that he is blind as a result
of the chemical leak
(photo taken in 1989).
5
A
team of at least 50 scientists and engineers from India were
on hand to supervise the processing of MIC into a less
harmful pesticide product. Once Operation Faith was
completed and the Union Carbide Bhopal plant was declared safe
again, the local residents felt for the first time that they were out
of danger. They wanted to go on with their lives, mourn for their
dead, and try to rebuild a life somehow that would make all of the
madness go away.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories of people that
were affected by the chemical disaster. Here are a few that have
been posted on a website (www.Bhopal.org):
59
60 BHOPAL
Name: Sajida
Age at Disaster: 6 years old
I was in the first grade at the time of the gas disaster.

I remember being woken up by people in my family.
I remember everyone vomiting and groaning and
then joining the crowd of people who were trying to
run away from the clouds of poison. Since then my
problem of breathlessness has been getting worse,
my eye problems are also getting worse and now
everything appears blurry. I am also getting more
and more weak. I was very keen on studying but I
failed my exams in the eighth grade. I was very sick
at the time of the examination. I told my teacher
that I could not write my exams because of my
illness but she refused to take my application for leave
of absence.
So I failed and that was the end of my studies. I have
never stopped regretting this. When I see other women
pursuing their studies I wish I had continued. Since I
was a child I wanted to do something important,
become someone famous and I still can not accept that
none of my wishes will ever come true. Now I spend
most of my time doing chores at home and some
embroidery work with “zari.” My eyes go blurred when
I work with “zari.”
It’s been over 10 years since I have been so sick. I
have been admitted to the hospital several times. My
elder brother Rayees used to be so breathless; he had
to sit through the whole night. His lungs were badly
damaged. He died four years back. He died in the
hospital. I think of him often and the one thing I feel
really bad about is that I was not there by his side
when he died. My father owned a truck and three
auto-rickshaws. He sold them one by one to pay for
A LONG PERIOD OF SUFFERING 61
Rayees’ medical bills. Now my father rents an

autorickshaw for the day and our family survives on
what he makes.
For the last one month he has been sick in bed and
I am taking care of household expenses through my
“zari” work. My mother Aneesa too is sick. She is
breathless has chest pain and pain in the stomach and
she has swelling in her limbs. She has a fever that never
leaves her.
Name: Razia Bee

We were sleeping peacefully that night. I got up to

find the children vomiting all over. First I wondered
whether it was some thing they had for dinner.
Then I too started vomiting. Soon all of us, my
husband and me carrying the children were running
towards Lily Talkies. My three-year-old daughter
Nazma had swelled up so much like she would
burst. We took her to Hamidia hospital. We stayed
with her at the hospital for 15 days and then the
doctors said she would not survive. We were feeling
so utterly helpless because there was no doctor
around who knew how my baby could be saved. She
died on the fifteenth day.
My husband Rafique owned a watch repair shop.
After the gas he suffered the most in our family. He
would need to sit under a fan. His mouth stayed
open and he had those violent coughing bouts.
Often he would cough blood. He was admitted to
Hamidia hospital for three weeks and then sent
home. Soon after early one morning at 3 am he
started vomiting and it would not stop. So we took
him back to Hamidia. After a month of his being in
62 BHOPAL
One year after the Bhopal the hospital the doctors said now take him home we
chemical leak, people still can’t do anything to help your husband. I had bitter
line up outside Hamidia arguments with the doctors but finally brought my
Hospital for treatment husband home. Then a Red Cross hospital was set
of their injuries. up near our house.
One month he took treatment there and then the
doctor there said these drugs are not doing you any
good, you might as well stop taking them. So I took
him to the government’s Shakir Ali hospital but the

treatment there did little good. Though we were
supposed to get free medicines the doctor there said
if you want to get better medicines you should buy
them from the market. One morning the doctor
wrote a prescription and I worried all day about
where to get Rupees five hundred to but all the
medicines. My husband died the same evening
at 4 o clock.
Meanwhile we had had to sell off the watch repair
shop at a very low price. I went to the claim court
with my husband’s medical papers but the officials
there said you have to get the “04 form” filled. They
told me to come later in December (‘92) But by then
the city was aflame with Hindu-Muslim riots. I was not
able to receive any compensation for my husband’s
death nor for my daughter Nazma’s.
My daughter Salma developed strange symptoms.
She would itch all over her body and get round blue
marks as big as a rupee coin. I took her to Hamidia
then to Shakir Ali where they told me to take her to
Indore. By then she was in a very bad state. She had
high fever and her tear drops were red coloured. Also
she complained of her head aching all the time. I took
her to the government hospital in Jehangirabad
where even after four months of regular treatment
there was no improvement in her condition. Then I
took her to a private clinic. They told me right in the
beginning that Salma’s treatment will be long and
expensive. I had no money left so I brought my
daughter back. But then her condition worsened and
I went back to the private clinic. At the end of her
treatment Salma was only slightly better and I was in
debt for Rs 50, 000. Till today we have not been able
to pay back all the money.
64 BHOPAL
Finally Salma got treated at the Sambhavna clinic

where with Ayurvedic treatment she got much better.
I too have been very sick after the gas. I do not
remember falling sick before the gas. To keep the
home fire going I did all kinds of jobs—sweeping,
washing dishes and every kind of hard labour. My
vision is blurred, I loose my balance while walking,
I get very breathless and get panic attacks. When I
tell my problems to the doctors at the government
hospitals they say you are just making all these up.
None of my children could study. Only my daughter
Sazida has passed eigth grade in the government
school. The school is supposed to be free but the
teachers find ways to get money from the students.
Name: Jewan Shinde

I used to be an autorickshaw driver and around 12.30 am

on the night of the disaster I was driving through
Bharat Talkies going towards home. I suddenly
started feeling really hot. At that time I could not see
any signs of the gas or the turmoil of afterwards. I got
home and went to sleep not thinking anything more.
Around 2.30 am I suddenly awoke to find that my
quilt was on the floor despite it being a winters night.
Outside there was screaming and shouting of “bhago,
yaha se bhago.” (“Run, run away from here.”) There
used to be a food inspector who lived opposite our
house and I could hear his voice outside. From inside
the house I shouted asking him what was going on.
He shouted back that gas had leaked from Carbide
and that I should not open the door. By this time
smoke had started seeping through from under the
door. That was when the coughing started. I, my wife
and my two sons (aged 4 & 6 at that time) felt as if we

were choking.
It felt like someone was burning chillies. I got
really scared and out of fear I opened the door. Out-
side everyone was running, screaming, nothing could
be seen—the thick fog hung everywhere. It was clear
that we were being poisoned—the stench of rotting
potatoes was strong. I took my family to the landlords
house who stayed one door away. The gas filled their
house also. 14 people, my family and my landlord’s
family then all climbed into my autorickshaw and I
started going towards new market. I, by mistake took
the wrong road—instead of going towards the
cantonement, I headed through Qazi Camp. Every-
where there were people running, vomiting, men and
women wearing almost nothing. The cloud still hung
thick. Many people tried stopping the auto and
begged for space, but what could I do? Driving
through Qazi camp I started to feel faint and I
thought I would lose consciousness. My landlords
wife, Rama Devi kept saying “himat rakho, is gadi ko
bahar nikalna hai.” (“Have courage, we’ve got to get
this vehicle out of here.”)
Terror had filled me from within. Street lamps
looked as if they were dim candles burning. Peoples
screams and shouts dulled by the thickness of the
gas fog. By the time we made it to Kamla Park it
seemed the gas was over. I then took my family to
South T.T Nagar where someone known to Rama
Devi lived.
I then tied a wet muffler over my mouth and went
back into the city to find out what had happened. If I
had known how poisonous the gas was then I would
not have gone. I can not tell you what state people
were in. Almost undressed. I saw an old woman at
66 BHOPAL
the government offices in a sari blouse and shorts

just sitting. Bodies strewed the streets.
At around 4 am a man stopped me and asked me
to take him to the station. I told him that all trains
had stopped. But he insisted. We got to the station.
Five corpses lay on Platform five. The man saw this
and ran.
All night I roamed in my auto. Picking up as many
people as I could, those who fell against my auto and
dropped them wherever I could. The roads were full
of people. The stampede of the dead and living.
Police vans were roaming blaring “vacuation.” I saw
a dead buffalo, twice the usual size. Its tail stuck
straight up into the air.
At around 6 am I made it back to my house in
Teela Jamalpura. The whole colony was desolate,
apart from a few people who had not run. Most of
them were vomiting outside their own homes. I
opened the door of my house and thick gas started
coming out. I left the door open and ran again.
I made it back to South T.T Nagar where my fam-
ily was. By the time I got home my eyes were swollen
and were red like tomatoes. By 10.30 that morning
I took my wife and children and went back home. I will
never forget what I have seen.
Settlement Money Sent by Union Carbide Officials

Within a few days of the chemical disaster,
Union Carbide officials began sending money for
relief efforts. They gave $1 million directly to the
Indian government and gave the Red Cross another
$5 million to handle relief efforts that were taking
place in the Bhopal region. The Indian government
offered a settlement of 10,000 rupees (only $830.00)
to each family who lost a loved one.
Lawyers Get Involved Prime Minister Rajiv

Ghandi attends a rally
In the days, weeks, and months following the in December 1984 by
chemical disaster at the Bhopal plant, dozens of and for survivors of
lawyers decided that they wanted to get involved. In the Union Carbide
fact, at one time there were so many lawyers running plant accident.
around Bhopal looking for clients to represent that the
local India media referred to the incident as “The
Great Ambulance Chase.”
Many of the lawyers who traveled to Bhopal wanted
their lawsuits to be filed in the United States rather than
India. They felt strongly that they could win larger
amounts of money for their clients there, and in less time
as well.
Greenpeace stages a
protest in New Delhi on
the fifteenth anniversary
of the Bhopal accident
(December 3, 1999).
Protesters believe that
Union Carbide left behind
toxic wastes that have
leaked into the water
supply in Bhopal.
A Look
at Bhopal
Today 6
M
uch has happened in Bhopal since that fateful night of
the tremendous chemical accident in December 1984.
Thousands of lives were lost, and thousands more would
become affected with a wide range of medical problems for years
to come. While experts, governments, businesses, and individuals
all disagree on whom to blame and what should be done, the one
thing that everyone agrees on is that it should not be allowed to
happen again.
According to the Jackson Browning Report, written by Union
Carbide Vice President Jackson B. Browning, many significant events
took place after the chemical leak. He writes:
69
70 BHOPAL
In 1985, the government of India filed a civil suit

against Union Carbide in Federal District Court in
New York City—after it had quickly enacted a law
giving it the right to represent all Bhopal victims and
the exclusive right to teach a settlement on their behalf.
The Indian government had hired an American law
firm, pursing its strategy to try the case in the U.S.
courts where it presumably hoped for a higher award
or settlement than could be expected in India. At one
point in 1986, a settlement with attorneys in the United
States seemed imminent, but lawyers representing the
government would not agree and the deal fell apart.
Eventually the U.S. courts established that India was
the proper site for any Bhopal action and sent the
litigation there for disposition.
Union Carbide knew it had a responsibility to take

care of the victims. The company publicly took moral
responsibility for the incident that took place at the
Bhopal plant in India. They also offered more than $20
million in relief aid that would be above and beyond any
settlement figures or damages. As an additional way to
help the people of Bhopal, Union Carbide announced that
they were giving a $2.2 million grant to Arizona State
University to establish a vocational-technical training
center for Bhopal’s citizens.
Union Carbide has attempted to take care of the
victims of the tragedy ever since it took place. Begin-
ning with the days immediately following the accident,
Union Carbine’s aid to the victims of Bhopal has
continued over the last 16 plus years. And the employees
of Union Carbide were so deeply moved by the victims
and their problems that they created an employees’
relief fund that collected more than $100,000 for the
Bhopal people.
A LOOK AT BHOPAL TODAY 71
The company also sent additional medical supplies

and equipment to Bhopal in an effort to help local
medical personnel deal with the many problems
afflicting the people. And in June of 1985, Union
Carbide contributed funds for Indian medical experts
to attend meetings on research and treatment to
victims. By January 1986, Union Carbide Corporation
and Union Carbide India, Ltd., offered the Indian
government $10 million to build a hospital to aid the
victims of the Bhopal tragedy.
For the next 10 years, petitions were filed in various
courts, both in the United States and in India. Finally, on
February 15, 1989, the Supreme Court of India directed a
final settlement of all Bhopal litigation in the amount of
$470 million to be paid by March 31, 1989.
Union Carbide did not stop there. In April 1992,
Union Carbide established an independent charitable
trust for a Bhopal hospital and announced plans to sell its
interest in the Bhopal plant. It took several court actions
before the groundbreaking of the new hospital took place
in the middle of October 1995. Currently, the building
has been completed, but new equipment is still being
installed and staff is still being selected. The hospital is
expected to have the necessary facilities for the treatment
of eye, lung, and heart problems.
The Official Settlement

According to the official website posted by the Union
Carbide Corporation, the following information contains
the details of the official settlement terms:
The $470 million final settlement is many times

larger than any damage award in the history of India.
It is also $120 million more than the $350 million
settlement accepted by U.S. attorneys representing
72 BHOPAL
the Indian victims in the U.S. Courts. U.S. attorneys

sued in American courts for more than $50 billion.
They ultimately told the U.S. court that $350 million
was a fair settlement. The Supreme Court of India
ruled that the $470 million settlement was “just,
equitable and reasonable.” The court reached this
conclusion after a review of U.S. and Indian court
filings, applicable law and facts, and an assessment of
the needs of the victims.
According to a Press Trust of India report, the
government of India submitted proof to the Supreme
Court of India that the $470 million settlement would
provide $3.1 billion, if invested at 10 percent interest
compounded for 20 years—the amount of time
India’s Attorney General estimated it would take for
a suit as hotly contested as the Carbide case to be tried
and decided.
Settlement by order of the Supreme Court of
India was the only feasible outcome, according to
many legal authorities. Union Carbide Corporation
had strong legal defenses to the government of
India’s claims. As a U.S. appeals court concluded,
“. . . the (Bhopal) plant has been constructed and
managed by Indians in India.” Neither the victims
nor UCC would gain by continuing litigation into
the 21st Century.
On May 4, 1989, the Supreme Court of India, in a
long opinion, explained the rationale for the settle-
ment. The court emphasized that the compensation
levels provided for in the settlement were well in
excess of those that would ordinarily be payable
under Indian law.
Taking the average amount per victim for each
victim category used by the Supreme Court of India
in its May 4, 1989, opinion and the number of victims
in each category in the completed categorization of Survivors of the Bhopal

claims reported by the State Government of Madhya gas disaster do not
Pradesh on November 30, 1990, the portion of the believe that they have
settlement fund needed to compensate the victims been treated fairly by
is 4.8 billion rupees. On November 14, 1990, the the United States.
To illustrate this, on
Reserve Bank of India reported that the settlement
September 2, 2000,
fund with interest was then 8.57 billion rupees.
protesters carry a coffin
Union Carbide’s information about the processing meant to represent
and settlement of claims is limited to sporadic media American justice.
coverage. Such articles have indicated that about
two-thirds of the claims have been decided and about
74 BHOPAL
$240 million had been paid by the end of 1998. News-

paper articles also indicated that the claims tribunals
are likely to wind up their work this year.
Union Carbide’s concern for the victims did not
begin or end with the settlement it paid to them.
What Caused the Accident?

For days and weeks after the terrible chemical
accident, rumors were running rampant about what
had caused the deadly gas leak. Some people thought a
fire had broken out, which resulted in several large
explosions. This was even reported in the local media
hours after the gas was first reported leaking. Other
people thought that someone had accidentally mixed
two or more chemicals together, which were supposed
to be kept apart.
Rumors had always been circulating among some
local residents about the quality of the workers that
Union Carbide had been hiring to work with those
dangerous chemicals. Some people felt that the
employees who were hired were not properly trained
and that they did not understand the magnitude and the
danger of working around so many dangerous chemicals.
In addition, some employees were not happy because
they were not promoted, which led to job unrest and
frequently a high turnover rate of employees.
Some employees later told investigators that cut-
backs and layoffs had resulted in some procedures
being changed. For example, they used to take readings
and check MIC samples twice every shift, but eventu-
ally they cut back to only once a shift. To make matters
worse, even the local Indian government had trouble
keeping up with simple inspection procedures. The
people whom the government had assigned to make
inspections were mostly mechanical engineers, and
those mechanical engineers had little or no knowledge

of chemical engineering.
There was a local Indian pollution control board,
but they had never even tested the Bhopal plant for any
type of gas emissions. It was later discovered that even
the local Indian air and water pollution control board
failed to have the proper equipment necessary to
measure air or water pollution.
Still other people thought that someone had
deliberately caused the deadly gas leak. Little did
those people realize at the time that they had guessed
the true cause of the accident. In fact, it was estab-
lished by Union Carbide and Indian investigators in
March of 1985, after a 3-month special investigation,
that a substantial amount of water had entered the
tank. Investigators believed that the water had entered
the MIC tank directly. Quoting from the Jackson
Browning Report:
Late in 1986, Union Carbide filed a lengthy court
document in India detailing the findings of its scien-
tific and legal investigations: the cause of the disaster
was undeniably sabotage. The evidence showed that
an employee of the Bhopal plant had deliberately
introduced water into a MIC storage tank. The result
was a cloud of poisonous gas. The episode is docu-
mented in a 17-minute videotape produced in 1988 by
filmmaker Philip Gittelman, who was invited to
undertake the documentary project by Union Carbide
and its outside legal counsel. Kelley Drye and Warren
of New York City. Also in 1988, an independent
study of the incident by the prestigious international
engineering consulting firm of Arthur D. Little
supported the analysis by the Union Carbide team.
Nothing the obstacles placed in the team’s path by the
76 BHOPAL
Indian Government, the Little Study said, “Had

those constraints not been imposed, the actual cause
of the incident would have been determined within
several months.” The Indian government, to this
day, has not taken a firm position on the tragedy’s
cause, leaving Union Carbide’s findings as the only
definitive conclusion on the subject. The government
of India has apparently decided not to pursue an
investigation into the charge of employee sabotage.
A Later Look at Some Survivors

Within a year of the deadly chemical leak, the
neighborhoods surrounding the Bhopal plant have
been renovated. Visitors today would not recognize the
area as being the same place. Gone are all traces of the
gas leak, and people are trying hard to forget that
terrible night and all of the tragedy that came with it.
Remember Sayed Abbas? The man who had
awakened and found himself in the morgue after
doctors accidentally declared him dead? He was but
one of countless victims who would continue to suffer
both physically and emotionally over the next few
years. It seemed as if bad luck were following him long
after that tragic night. After he ran from the morgue,
Abbas was able to find his wife and two sons. His entire
family continued to suffer from the effects of the
deadly gas. When several black spots were discovered
on Abbas’s foot, the doctors mistakenly thought that
gangrene had set in, and they amputated his leg.
Unfortunately, it was not gangrene, but it was too
late—his leg was gone. Shortly after the leg amputa-
tion, Abbas’s youngest son died. Next, his mother
became severely ill after she had returned to her
village, and Abbas traveled there to be with her. She
eventually did recover, and when Abbas returned to
his home his wife told him that their other son had Angry Bhopal residents
also died. seeking answers gather
Bitter by the whole experience and by the death of at the gate of Union
Carbide plant one
two of his sons, Abbas kept waiting for some type of
month after the
settlement from the Indian government, but it was slow
chemical accident.
in coming. His simple repair business was starting to
fail, and he was afraid he would go out of business
before any help could arrive.
Remember Munnibai, the water woman at the train
station? Her life was also changed forever by the tragic
events of that December evening. She suffered from
internal bleeding and could not open her eyes. Eventu-
ally, she was diagnosed with cancer, and doctors urged
her to travel to Bombay to seek additional medical
78 BHOPAL
treatment. Munnibai refused, saying that she would

rather not die someplace where her children were not
nearby. A proud woman, she was deeply concerned for
her family and returned to work to try and earn a
meager living. No one had told her that victims of
the gas leak that were too ill to return to work were
eligible for a monetary settlement.
There are countless stories like those two, and even
today people can tell you tales of someone they know
who had been affected by the gas leak.
Despite the disaster that took place at that Union
Carbide Bhopal plant in India, some positive changes
have resulted. The tragedy brought awareness of
chemical hazards and a new appreciation for environ-
mental safety. Since December 3, 1984, many lives
have been changed and many people have suffered,
but people now have a better understanding of the
dangers and risks involved when a plant is using
hazardous materials.
Bibliography
Ashfaq, Ali. Bhopal—Past and Present. Bhopal: Jai Bharat Publishing House,
1981.
Chishti, Anees. Dateline Bhopal: A Newsman’s Diary of the Gas Disaster. New
Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 1986.
Everest, Larry. Behind the Poison Cloud. Chicago: Banner Press, 1986.
Kurtzman, Dan. A Killing Wind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987.
Iyer, Pico. Clouds of uncertainty. Time December 24, 1984, pp. 24–27.
Morehouse, Ward, and Subramaniam, M. Arun. The Bhopal Tragedy: What
Really Happened and What It Means for American Workers and Communities at
Risk. New York: Council on International and Public Affairs, 1986.
Websites
www.bhopal.com
79
Further Reading
Bordewich, Fergus M. The lessons of Bhopal. The Atlantic Monthly
March 1987, pp. 30–33.
Everest, Larry. Behind the Poison Cloud. Chicago: Banner Press, 1986.
Jones, Tara. Corporate Killings: Bhopal Will Happen. London: Free
Association Books, 1988.
Kurtzman, Dan. A Killing Wind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987.
Weir, David. The Bhopal Syndrome. San Francisco: Sierra Club
Books, 1987.
80
Index
Abbas, Sayed, 41, 76-77 Civil lawsuit, 53-55, 70-74 deaths reported by, 44-45
Anderson, Warren M. Clean Air Act Amend- and military planes
arrest of, 52-53 ments, 56-57 dropping water on
and management task Criminal lawsuit, 55 chemical cloud, 50
force, 49 and safety procedures,
and news of leak, 47 Death certificates, 45 54
and responsibility for Dey, Suman, 19-20, 21 and settlements to
accident, 49 Dixit, V. R., 29 survivors and families
and visit to Bhopal, of victims, 35, 66, 77
50-53 Emergency Planning and and trial moved to India,
Arizona State University, Community Right to 53, 70
vocational-technical Know Act, 56 Union Carbide disputing
training center of, 70 Environmental Protection claims of, 54
Agency (EPA) Union Carbide technical
Balkishensingh, Munnibai, and U.S. chemical inci- team blocked by, 50,
41-42 dents compared to 75-76
Bhandari, N. R., 27 Bhopal leak, 56
Bharat Heavy Electricals, and U.S. legislation, 56 Jackson Browning Report,
Ltd., 45 49, 69-70, 75
Bhopal, 12 Gandhi Medical College,
building of new hospital 39-40 Kelley Drye and Warren,
in, 71 Gittelmen, Philip, 75 75
and concern for resi- Gokhale, Mr., 52 Keswani, Rajkumar, 17,
dents living near 25-26
plant, 12 Hamidia Hospital, 26-29, Khan, Mohammed, 13-14
disaster and evacuation 41, 42-44
plan never developed Little, Arthur D., 75-76
for, 14 India, 11-12
evacuation from, 23-24, India, government of Madhya Pradesh, 12
25-26, 50 and arrest of Anderson, Mahindra, Mr., 52
renovation of after leak, 52-53 Methyl isocyanate (MIC)
76 and Bhopal Gas Leak leak, 12, 20-21, 30
See also Methyl isocyanate Disaster Act, 53, 70 and alarms, 22, 24, 31
(MIC) leak; Union and cause of leak, 76 and amount of gas
Carbide Bhopal plant and charges against released into atmos-
Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Union Carbide, 53-54 phere, 21
Act, 53, 70 and civil settlement, and autopsies, 40-41
Browning, Jackson B., 49, 71-74 and breathing through
69-70, 75 and civil suit, 53-55, wet cloth, 22, 25
70-74 cause of, 31, 49, 53-54,
Chandra, Hireesh, 39-40 and criminal lawsuit, 55 74-76
81
Index
deaths from, 22-23, 24, Red Cross, 44, 66 and manual backup
26, 28, 29, 30, 34, 36, Risk Management Program system, 15
39-42, 44-45, 63, 66 Rule, 56 and newspaper
and employees, 21-22 reporter’s warning of
and EPA analysis, 56 Sambhavna Trust, 31, 64 safety problems in,
and gas masks, 22 Sarangi (Sathyu), Satinath, 17, 25-26
and high pressure, 20-21 30-31 opening of, 12, 13
and journalist’s warnings, Sevin (carbaril), 14 raw fertilizer originally
17, 25-26 Sharma, B. B., 29 made at, 12
and mobs at hospitals, Sharma, B. K., 29 and response to leak, 31
26-29, 39-41, 42-44 Singh, Moti, 52 and safety of after leak,
number of victims of, Survivors, 76-78 59
44-45 health problems of, 29, and safety problems
press coverage of, 47, 30, 31, 32, 34-36, 60-64, before leak, 13-17,
48, 74 76, 77-78 19-20, 53-54, 74-75
repair of, 45 lawyers running after, 67 See also Methyl isocyanate
and residents, 22, 23-26 settlements for, 35, 66, (MIC) leak
and sabotage as cause of, 71-74, 77, 78 Union Carbide Corpora-
54, 75-76 stories of, 29-33, 34-37, tion, 47-57
and safety problems 60-66 and civil lawsuit, 53-55,
before leak, 13-17, and those declared dead, 70-74
19-20, 21, 53-54, 41-42, 46-78 and civil settlement,
74-75 treatments for, 30-31, 34, 54-55, 71-74
and spread of gas, 21-22, 42-44, 62-64, 71 and criminal lawsuit, 55
23-24 and disputing govern-
and trains, 24, 29, 66 Union Carbide Bhopal plant ment of India’s claims
U.S. legislation after, deadly pesticides made against, 54
56-57 at, 13 and employees’ relief
Munnibai, 77-78 and economic problems, fund for Bhopal
15-16, 74-75 people, 70
National Transportation employment provided government of India’s
Safety Board, 56-57 by, 15, 19 charges against,
and environmental 53-54
Occupational Safety and concerns, 15-16 and leak at Virginia
Health Administration evacuation from, 22 plant, 55-56
(OSHA), 56 and hunger strike of and management task
Operation Faith, 50, 59 employees, 16 force, 49
and inexperienced and medical and technical
Process Safety Management employees, 16, 17, 74 team, 49, 50, 75-76
Standard, 56 and injuries to employees, and medical supplies to
Puri, Swaraj, 27, 52 17, 19 Bhopal, 71
82
Index
and money for hospital and treatment of victims, and first plant in 1940,
for Bhopal victims, 71 71 12
and policies for dealing and West Virginia plant, and money for hospital
with accident, 48-50 48, 49, 54, 55-56 for Bhopal victims,
and press conferences, See also Anderson, Warren 71
47-48 Union Carbide India, Ltd. Union Carbide selling
and relief aid, 49, 66, 70 and additional plants in stake in, 55
and responsibility for 1960s, 12 See also Union Carbide
accident, 49, 50, 70 and civil lawsuit, 54 Bhopal plant
and safety problems, 17 and civil settlement, U.S. Chemical Safety and
and selling of stake in 54-55 Hazard Investigation
Union Carbide India, employment provided Board, 56-57
Ltd., 55 by, 12
83
Picture Credits
page
2: Courtesy CIA World Wide Photos 58: © Corbis
10: Courtesy CIA 38: Associated Press, AP 62: © Corbis
14: Associated Press, AP World Wide Photos 67: © Corbis
World Wide Photos 43: © Corbis 68: Associated Press, AP
18: © Chris Rainer/Corbis 46: Associated Press, AP World Wide Photos
23: © Corbis World Wide Photos 73: Associated Press, AP
28: Associated Press, AP 51: © Corbis World Wide Photos
World Wide Photos 55: Associated Press, AP 77: © Corbis
33: Associated Press, AP World Wide Photos
Cover Photos: Associated Press, AP; Corbis
84
JOHN RIDDLE is a freelance writer and author from Bear, Delaware. His
byline has appeared in major newspapers and magazines, including The
Washington Post and Curriculum Administrator. He has also written for
numerous websites, newsletters, and trade journals. He is the author of 17
books, including The Story of the Pony Express, Steve Wozniak and the Story
of Apple Computer, and Streetwise Guide to Business Management. He is a
frequent speaker at writers’ conferences throughout the United States.
More information about the author can be found on his website,
http://www.ilovetowrite.com
JILL MCCAFFREY has served for four years as national chairman of the
Armed Forces Emergency Services of the American Red Cross. Ms. McCaffrey
also serves on the board of directors for Knollwood—the Army Distaff Hall.
The former Jill Ann Faulkner, a Massachusetts native, is the wife of Barry R.
McCaffrey, who served in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet as director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The McCaffreys are the
parents of three grown children: Sean, a major in the U.S. Army; Tara, an
intensive care nurse and captain in the National Guard; and Amy, a seventh
grade teacher. The McCaffreys also have two grandchildren, Michael and Jack.
85

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Bhopal

REFORMS and RAMIFICATIONS

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS

Staff for BHOPAL

© 2002 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of

The Chelsea House World Wide Web address is

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

1 Danger Lies Ahead 11

3 What Happened Next 39

4 Union Carbide Responds 47

5 A Long Period of Suffering 59

6 A Look at Bhopal Today 69

THE APOLLO 1 AND THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD

THE EXXON VALDEZ THE SPANISH INQUISITION

THE GALVESTON HURRICANE THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE TERRORISM

THE GREAT PLAGUE AND THREE MILE ISLAND

THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC OF 1918 THE WACO SIEGE

THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING

Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, wildfires, and floods continue to

luxury liner Titanic smugly declared their state-of-the-art ship

roam freely in modern business districts.

But in 1980, business costs were starting to be a concern

Over the next few years, the Bhopal plant continued to

César Chavez, farm labor difficult time to be a mass producer of pesticides at a

problems with serious accidents. In just over three years,

Awareness of Safety Problems Grows

to be taken, especially when working around such

From High Pressure to Leak

the workers immediately set out to find the source

By this time most of the employees had put on gas

Some of the residents who lived in the shantytowns A woman in Bhopal

Those residents who were lucky enough to be a few

Journalist Keswani Awakens

scooters. In his anger, however, instead of driving away

Mob Scene at the Hospital

The medical superintendent of the hospital was

over. Countless people were becoming blind and collaps-

Survivors of the worst chemical disaster in history

up his engineering profession and is a trustee of the

I study in fifth grade. Early this year I had gone to my

This woman is collecting

Some people in my neighbourhood remind me that I

used to live in the same neighbourhood. He is a

We had had a normal evening at home. I, my four

woman in my family wears a sari. We figure that if

Examining the Dead

were shocked at what they saw there. They could not

still were not sure what had taken place.

Not Really Dead

no sign of a heartbeat from Munnibai, she was placed

Too Many Injured, Too Few Doctors,

apparent because of the large numbers of patients On December 10, 1984,

Because of the numbers of casualties, death certifi-

Union Carbide Talks to the Media

Hilton hotel in Connecticut. They kept their first press

Policies for Dealing with the Accident

implement some important policies rather quickly.

• The West Virginia plant that manufactured MIC