On the night of December 3, 1984, around nine hundred thousand residents of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, were in their homes, unaware of the impending disaster. Meanwhile, workers at a nearby chemical plant were on a tea break when, at around 1 a.m., a catastrophe occurred. A deadly gas began leaking from one of the factory’s tanks and soon spread throughout the entire city of Bhopal.
As dawn broke, the horrifying extent of the tragedy became clear—streets were littered with the bodies of both humans and animals. Some died in their beds, while others perished while fleeing and coughing in the streets. How did this horrifying industrial accident, one of the worst in India’s history, occur? What was this gas, and how did it escape? Who was responsible for this catastrophic event?
Before we delve into the details of that tragic night, it’s important to understand the background. In the 1960s, the Indian government sought to attract international companies to invest in the country. One such offer came from the American chemical company, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). India accepted their proposal under certain conditions. UCC had been operating in India since 1934 and decided to increase its investment by building a new plant. The subsidiary, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), was established, with the Indian government holding a 22% stake in the company. UCIL set up a plant in Bhopal to manufacture pesticides, specifically one called Sevin.
The factory’s location was controversial, being just one kilometer from the railway station and only three kilometers from two major hospitals. Despite opposition from local authorities, the plant began operations in 1979. Sevin production required the use of a highly dangerous gas known as methyl isocyanate (MIC), which was initially imported. However, due to high costs, it was decided to manufacture MIC at the Bhopal plant.
By the 1980s, droughts in India had caused a significant decline in crop production, reducing the demand for pesticides. This led to a sharp drop in UCIL’s sales, and by 1984, Sevin production was minimal. Although production had slowed, a large quantity of MIC remained stored in three tanks, each with a capacity of 68,000 liters. For safety, the tanks were supposed to be filled to only 50% of their capacity and maintained under pressure with inert nitrogen gas to prevent the release of the MIC. However, before the accident, one of the tanks malfunctioned, and nitrogen could not be added, leading to an overfilled tank containing 42,000 liters of MIC—posing a grave danger.
On December 1, 1984, an attempt to fix the tank failed. By December 2, water somehow entered the tank during the cleaning of attached pipes. Reports suggest that a worker had left a valve open, and the water reacted with the MIC. This chemical reaction dramatically increased pressure inside the tank, reaching five times the normal limit. Despite some workers noticing the change, a minor gas leak was considered routine. Tragically, workers left for their tea break, oblivious to the disaster brewing.
At 1 a.m., as the workers enjoyed their tea, they began to experience eye irritation, throat pain, and difficulty breathing. Two alarms were supposed to sound: one for the plant workers and another to alert the public. In a gross display of negligence, both alarms malfunctioned. The safety valve of the tank also failed, allowing the deadly gas to escape in the form of a cloud, spreading across the city.
As the situation spiraled out of control, the plant workers fled, helpless as the worst industrial accident in India’s history unfolded. Within an hour, 30,000 liters of MIC had leaked into the atmosphere. The public became aware of the gas when they started feeling burning in their eyes, throat pain, and shortness of breath. One survivor recalled seeing the gas clouds entering her home through the windows. People ran through the streets, coughing and disoriented, while Bhopal’s hospitals, unprepared for such an event, struggled to cope with the crisis.
By morning, around 15,000 people had died, and 42,000 liters of toxic gas had spread across the population. Dead bodies of people and animals lay in the streets, and even plants withered from the gas exposure. This was not the plant’s first accident—two years earlier, in 1982, 45 workers were hospitalized after a gas leak. Between 1983 and 1984, several other leaks occurred, though none matched the severity of this one.
Union Carbide, the American parent company, refused to take responsibility for the disaster, instead blaming UCIL. Legal battles ensued, first in U.S. courts and later in India’s Supreme Court. The Indian government initially demanded $3 billion in compensation, but Union Carbide eventually settled for $470 million, which the Indian government accepted.
In 1992 and again in 2009, Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson was convicted by Indian courts, and an arrest warrant was issued. He was briefly detained but fled to the U.S., sparking outrage in India. He died in 2014. Approximately 20,000 people ultimately died from the gas leak, and around 600,000 were seriously affected, with survivors suffering from blindness, cancer, and respiratory diseases. Even today, children in Bhopal are born with birth defects.
In 2010, the Bhopal District Court convicted seven Indian engineers, including the UCIL chairman Keshub Mahindra, sentencing them to two years in prison. However, all were later released on bail.
Following the disaster, the UCIL plant was shut down, and in 1994, Union Carbide sold the company. Today, it operates under the name Eveready Industries, a successful Indian company producing batteries.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, India revised its industrial laws to enhance public safety and environmental protection. However, despite cleanup efforts, a 2019 report revealed that 400 tons of toxic chemicals remain at the site, contaminating the water supply and posing an ongoing threat to the local population.
Even 38 years later, the people of Bhopal have not forgotten the horrors of that fateful night.
