No real justice for the victims of Bhopal

It took more than 25 years, but on Monday a court in India finally convicted and sentenced seven former employees to 2 years in jail for their role in the Bhopal Disaster.

On a December night in 1984, a major toxic gas leak from an American pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal left 20,000 people dead.

It’s by far the worst industrial accident in history, and despite Monday’s rulings and an earlier settlement, many believe the company and its employees have literally gotten away with murder.

The Bhopal Disaster

Bhopal is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and is home to about 1.5 million people.

It’s known as the City of Lakes for its numerous natural and artificial lakes, and is one of India’s greenest cities.

However, it will be forever remembered as the home of the Bhopal Disaster – the worst industrial disaster on record.

The accident happened at the pesticide plant of Union Carbide Corporation – a billion-dollar American chemicals company now owned by industrial giant Dow Chemicals.

At around 11pm on December 2, 1984, water began leaking into a chemical storage tank containing methyl isocyanate (MIC) liquid – a hazardous chemical ingredient in the pesticide Carbaryl.

The reaction increased the temperature of the MIC liquid to 200 degrees Celsius, raising the pressure in the tank to an unsustainable level.

This resulted in the emergency venting of pressure, which released 40 tonnes of toxic gas into the air in the early hours of December 3.

The gas promptly caused great panic across Bhopal as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs.

About 4,000 people died immediately from choking and heart failure. Others were trampled in the panic.

Locals describe the horrors of returning to their neighbourhoods the next day to find dead bodies everywhere.

Another 6,000 people died within two weeks, and 10,000 in the years after.

In total, up to 20,000 people are believed to have been killed by the gas leak – five times as many as Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

A further 150,000 suffered from permanent health problems and birth defects.

Taking responsibility

The crucial element over who was responsible for the accident lies with how the water leaked into the tank.

Union Carbide claims all their safety processes to stop water from accidentally leaking into the tank were in place and operational at the time.

They believe the incident was an act of sabotage by a “disgruntled worker” who secretly and deliberately redirected the water into the tank (workers were cleaning out the pipes with water at the time).

The workers deny this. They claim it was possible for the water to have leaked into the tank accidentally, due to water clogging and a lack of certain equipment (specifically a slip-blind water isolation plate).

In the end, the various investigations couldn’t prove how the water leak occurred.

However, investigators did point to several contributing factors which caused the water leak to become a disaster.

Some of these include:

• the cheap but hazardous MIC chemical that Union Carbide brought in to replace the more expensive alternative

• the generally poor facilities and failure of several safety systems that were not operational at the time

• the tank refrigeration system, which alone would have prevented the disaster, was switched off to save money

• the plant’s location was near a densely populated area, even though a less populated option had been offered

All these factors are blamed heavily on Union Carbide’s insistence on cost-cutting over safety.

After years of legal wrangling, in 1989 the company finally agreed to a financial settlement with the Indian government of US$470 million to be put into a fund for victims and their families.

They also agreed to pay for a $17 million hospital to provide free treatment for the victims.

Critics say this amount was pathetic considering the average payout to those who fell sick was about $500 and only $2,200 to the families of those killed.

Monday’s convictions

On Monday, an Indian court convicted seven Indian workers associated with the accident of “death by negligence.”

These include the former chairman, production manager, works manger, vice-president and managing director. Each received a 2-year jail sentence and a $2,125 fine.

However, the main person accused in the trial didn’t show up. He is Union Carbide CEO at the time Warren Anderson.

After being arrested and released on bail three days after the accident, he fled to the United States where he remains today.

Indian courts have issued a warrant for his arrest, however the American government remains unwilling to extradite (forcibly send) him to India for trial.

The issue over Anderson, plus the punishments handed out and the time it has taken has left many Indians bitter.

The suffering continues for the victims of Bhopal, but it appears true justice may never arrive.

By The Casual Truth