Bhopal: The horrifying memories of the world’s biggest industrial tragedy still bring tears to the eyes of the people of Bhopal city. Nearly four decades have passed since this tragedy and even now many Bhopal residents are suffering from its effects. Not only this, a whole department is running in the city for relief from this tragedy and even today the gas victims are struggling for their many demands. In the capital of Madhya Pradesh, at around 2 o’clock in the night of 2 December 1984, thousands of people were put to death by the poisonous gas that leaked from the Union Carbide factory. This incident is still known as Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy.
The leakage of methyl isocyanide gas took place after the intervening night of 2 and 3 December. This incident took place in plant number C of Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. And as soon as the cold wind of dawn picked up speed, poisonous gas leaking from the Union Carbide factory engulfed the city and due to this many people died. According to the affidavit released by the government, within a few hours of the incident, about 3,000 people had died.
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How many deaths were there?
According to government records, 3,787 people died in the Bhopal gas tragedy. These figures were later released by the government of Madhya Pradesh, as the immediate official count put the death toll due to the gas leak from the Union Carbide factory at 2,259. However, victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, social activists fighting for justice for the victims put the death toll between 8 and 10,000. In an affidavit issued in the year 2006, the government has stated that 5,58,125 people were exposed to gas due to the Bhopal gas leak, in which about 3,900 people became seriously ill and disabled.
How did the gas leak happen?
Gas leakage was reported from plant number C in the factory. According to official records, methyl isocyanate was mixed in the water used for cooling the plant, the mixture of which generated a huge amount of gas and caused tremendous pressure on tank number 610. There was gas pressure on the lid of the tank and the lid of the tank burst one by one, due to which many tons of poisonous gas came out and spread in Bhopal with the wind. More than 5 lakh people were affected due to the leakage of methyl isocyanate gas.
Painful aftermath
At the time of 1984, the population of Bhopal was around 8.5 lakhs. After this tragedy, more than half of the population was facing cough, irritation in the eyes, complaints of itching in the skin and breathing problems. Poisonous gas caused internal bleeding, pneumonia and even death. The villages and slums in the areas near the factory were the most affected.
Symptoms of people exposed to isocyanate were not immediately known to doctors. Yet the hospitals treated over 50,000 patients in the first two days of the Bhopal gas leak. If the victims are to be believed, the government had announced to control the gas leak in eight hours, but the result of the devastation caused by the gas is that the city of Bhopal could not get out of its grip even after 38 years.
