18. The Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984 is regarded as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, exposing more than half a million people to toxic gas
The Bhopal Disaster was an incident on the night of December 2, 1984, where, at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, methyl isocyanate gas leaked into the surrounding environment. A highly toxic substance, extremely hazardous to the health of exposed humans, the precise cause of the gas leak remains a matter of dispute. The Indian Government and local communities maintain that mismanagement and inadequate maintenance triggered a backflow of water into the gas tank; conversely, UCIL has persistently claimed they adhered to regulations and that water was introduced to the tank in a deliberate act of sabotage by a disgruntled employee.
Dispersing 40 metric tons of gas, southeasterly winds blew the toxic fumes over the city of Bhopal. More than 550,000 residents were exposed, resulting in between 3,787 and 16,000 deaths. Furthermore, thousands of victims suffered permanently disabling injuries and tens of thousands temporary injuries. In 1989 UCIL paid $470 million in compensation, whilst in June 2010, after years of struggle, eight former employees, including the company chairman, were convicted of death by negligence and imprisoned. The resultant clean-up effort of the plant took more than fourteen years, with contemporary studies indicating that the drinking water of Bhopal remains tainted by the incident.