The worst nightmare for 'BHOPAL'

At around midnight on 3^rd December 1984 began the worst nightmare for Bhopal. The night of terror and death. A cloud of deadly gases exploded from the pesticide plant that belonged to Union Carbide India, a subsidiary of the US-based Union Carbide Company because of an exothermic reaction due to the entry of water to the tank containing 42 tons of methyl isocyanate releasing large amount of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded into the homes of sleeping people of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs, suffocation, cough, burning eyes and vomiting, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting.

Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours and many were trampled in the panic. The causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse. Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis. Although no official count of casualties has ever been done, estimates based on hospital and rehabilitation records show that about 20,000 people died and about 5.7 lakh suffered bodily damage, making it by far the world’s worst industrial disaster ever.

 The leakage also caused many short term health effects in the surrounding areas. The gas cloud also contained phosgene, hydrogen carbide, oxides of nitrogen, monomethyl amine (MMA) and carbon dioxide that are denser than the surrounding air that stayed close to the ground. Resulting, children and other people of shorter stature inhaled higher concentrations. Within a few days, leaves on trees yellowed and fell off. Supplies, including food, became scarce owing to suppliers' safety fears. Fishing was prohibited as well, which caused further supply shortages.

Twenty five years hence, the ones who survived are suffering from multiple diseases.
On an average, 6,000 gas-affected patients visit hospitals in Bhopal every day, that is, about 2 million visits per year. Another dimension of the ongoing tragedy of Bhopal is the poisonous chemical waste lying around in the abandoned premises of the pesticide plant. Various studies have established that the soil, ground water, vegetables and even breast milk have traces of toxic chemicals.