A December without singing Christmas carols, without giving gifts, without hugging relatives; a desolate December marked by the 1984 tragedy in India, caused by an accident at the Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant (UCC) in the city of Bhopal.
On December 3, at dawn, A cloud of highly toxic gas invaded Bhopal, due to an accident that occurred at the pesticide factory of the American company Union Carbide.
Everything indicates that the accident was caused by a leak caused by poor management and inefficient maintenance, which caused an increase in pressure in the storage tank and caused the safety valve to open and release the gas into the atmosphere.
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At the moment that the toxic gas spread, forming a huge cloud, all the inhabitants began to feel a strong burning in their eyes to the point of being unable to see. Others fainted; some while running desperately ran out of air in their lungs so they died instantly. Likewise, citizens of Bhopal died from internal bleeding or convulsions.
And although they tried to be treated in the hospital, many did not have much luck, since the doctors did not know how to control the situation, since the company never communicated or informed what products were stored in the factory and, therefore, they did not have medicines. to combat intoxication.
In Bhopal (India) the toxic cloud, being heavier than air, did not dissolve, remained on the surface and suffocated 8,000 people. For the Bhopal tragedy, the directors of Union Carbide paid two years in prison and a fine of 8,900 euros: 1.01 euros per death. pic.twitter.com/UB6JjsM7NY
— MEMORABLE (@EsMemorable) December 4, 2020
in that morning there were more than 500,000 people poisoned by methyl isocyanate gas extremely toxic that made them water their eyes, writhe in stomach pain, vomit nonstop, and have uncontrollable looseness.
Lakshmi Thakur, one of the survivors, saw her 20-year-old daughter die while trying to escape from the scene. Given the high level of toxicity that spread from her around her house, since it was behind the factory, it was impossible for her to save her and many of her neighbors who ran with their hands over her eyes while asking for help.
Between the night and the dawn of that day, the Madhya Pradesh government declared the disaster one of the worst ever experienced in the world. In fact, the number of deaths, injuries and victims in Bhopal is and has been uncertain.
According to data from the ‘BBC’ agency, the Government put the number of deaths at 5,295, the number of people with permanent disability at 4,902 and the number of seriously injured at 42. However, the data still does not add up and it has become a puzzle in which the chip is needed to decipher it.
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A girl gasps for breath in the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster, when a faulty valve at Union Carbide’s pesticide factory triggered a cloud of toxic gas that would kill more than 4,000 people and affect half a million.
Bhopal, India, December 1984 | 📸 Dilip Mehta pic.twitter.com/xfX5xtSWls
— Shine McShine (@Shine_McShine) July 31, 2022
the disaster factory
The owner of the Union Carbide India (UCIL) factory was the majority shareholder of UCC, which also had banks controlled by the Indian government with a 49.1% stake.
In 1989, UCC paid 470 million dollars, that is, approximately two billion sixty-eight billion pesos to compensate the victims of the tragedy. However, since there was never an exact number of victims in that year, compensation was not made correctly, according to the Indian Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar.
On the morning of December 3, 1984, a toxic cloud invaded the city of #Bhopal on the #India. The pesticide factory of the US company Union Carbide released methyl isocyanate (MIC), a highly toxic gas used to make insecticides. pic.twitter.com/haerQ9qyQa
– AC NEWS (@acnoticiasmx) December 3, 2021
For this reason, year after year after the tragedy, there are protesters who ask the government to review the number of recognized deaths and injuries so that they can claim compensation from the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), the US parent company of Union Carbide India (UCIL) when The fatal accident happened to the Dow Chemical Company, which bought UCC in 2001.
However, only Until 2014, the Indian Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar, promised to review the data and agreed that the survivors would be compensated. at any cost.
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The erroneous data that hinder compensation
As stated above, in 1989, the North American company Union Carbide had to accept the sentence of the Supreme Court of India that sentenced the company to pay 470 million dollars, that is, approximately two billion sixty-eight billion Colombian pesos.
“93% of the victims were left without compensation,” said Satinath Sarangi on the ‘BBC’, from the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, one of the five leading the protest, given that the activists, as well as the government of India, acknowledge that the initial agreement is based on incorrect data.
Protesters have been asking the Dow Chemical Company to handle compensation, like the one due to Lakshmi Thakur. However, the multinational argues that it had nothing to do with the tragedy, given that it acquired UCC 17 years later.
“In legal terms the matter can be said to have been settled at the highest court, the Supreme Court of India, and Union Carbide or its successors are not responsible,” said University of Warwick law professor Upendra Baxi.
Currently, activists continue to fight for the accuracy of the figures of victims of Bhopal, since they want justice in an issue with many loose ends and obstacles in each judicial procedure.
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Likewise, Krishna Bai, one of the protesters, assures that they will not stop until they get a response to their requests. She states that she is still suffering from secondary reactions to gas poisoning.
“After 30 years I still suffer from headaches, I can’t see or walk normally and the compensation ran out a long time ago. That is why we will not stop fighting. We will fight to the end”, he explained on ‘BBC’.
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