Bhopal

The Bhopal disaster, which occurred on the night of December 3, 1984, is widely considered the worst industrial disaster in the history of the world. This event caused the leakage of 40 tons of methyl iscocyanate in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, one of the poorest and most overpopulated states in India. The culprit was a plant owned by Union Carbide. The disaster left 6,903 people dead, approximately 20,000 injured, and almost another 850,000 seriously affected in different ways.

Just prior to the incident in India, Union Carbide had occupied the third place in the ranking of the chemical sector in the United States. The company boasted assets of more than $10,000 million and around 110,000 employees. It nevertheless suffered the worst financial situation it ...