Download pdf - Bhopal Gas Trajedy

7/27/2019 Bhopal Gas Trajedy

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BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

The Bhopal disasterwas a gas leak incident in

India, considered one of the wo r ld 's wors t

indus tr ial d isaster. It occurred on the night of

December 23, 1984 at the Union CarbideInd ia Lim ited (UCIL) pest ic ide plant in

Bhopal , Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of

methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals fromthe plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of

thousands of people.


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All because of.

Methyl isoc yanate (MIC) is extremely to xic .

MIC can damage by inhalation, ingestion and

contact in quantities as low as 0.4 ppm. Damage

includes coughing, chest pain, asthma, irritation

of the eyes, nose and throat, as well as skin

damage. Higher levels of exposure, over 21

ppm, can result pneumonia and death.

At 25 C,it reacts vigourously in excess water,half of the MIC is consumed in 9 min,if the heat

is not efficiently removed from the mixture, the

rate of the reaction will increase and rapidly

cause the MIC to boil.


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As a result..

Twenty-five years have passed since that night ofterror and death in Bhopal, which saw a cloud ofdeadly gases explode out of a faulty tank in a pesticidefactory and silently spread into the homes of sleeping

people. Some vomited uncontrollably, went into unconscious

and fell dead.

Although no official count of casualties has ever beendone, estimates based on hospital and rehabilitationrecords show that about 20,000 people died and about5.7 lakh suffered bodily damage, making it by far theworld's worst industrial disaster ever.


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A CHILD KILLED BY POISONOUS LEAK


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Photograph is perhaps themost capable one to tell thestory of that night.

On 5th dec 1984 PabloBartholomew and Raghu Rai

went to cover the disaster, andsaw the people who were aboutto bury this child .They

quickly took several shotsbefore the grave was filledwith dirt. They did not ask thename of the child or father.Unable to withstand the sorrow,

they broke down and cried. So far, the identity of this girl

child remains unknown. Noone has come forward claimingto be a relative of this girl.


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After the incident,noone under the age of18 was registered.Thenumber of children

exposed to the gaseswas at least 2,00,000.

Doctors and hospitalswere not informed ofproper treatment

methods for MIC gasinhalation.They weretold to simply givecough medicine andeye drops to their

patients


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2,000BUFFALO,

GOATS, ANDOTHERANIMALS WERE

COLLECTEDAND BURIED


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A view of the inside premises of the

union carbide factory a year after the

midnght 2-3 december,1984


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What happended?????Story Behind the disaster


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Factors leading to the magnitude of

the gas leak include:

During that night of December 2, a large amountof water entered Tank 610,' which contained 42

tonnes of MIC, much more than the safety rules

permitted. The reaction generated a major increase in the

temperature inside the tank to over 200 degreeCelsius(actually MIC must be stored attemperatures below 40 C).

This forced the emergency venting of pressurefrom the tank, releasing a large volume of toxic

gases.


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Contd

The reaction was speeded up by the presence of iron from

corroding pipelines. It is known that workers cleaned the

pipelines with water but they were not told by the

supervisor to add a slip-blind water isolation plate. Slip-

blind plates that would have prevented water from pipesbeing cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks through

faulty valves were not installed.

Because of this, and of the bad maintenance, the workers

consider it possible for water to have accidentally enteredthe tank.


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FAILURE OF SEVERAL SAFETY SYSTEMS

To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system was idle. The MIC

was kept at 20 degrees Celsius, not the 4.5 degrees advised by the

manual.

Only one gas scrubber was operating: it could not treat such a large

amount of MIC with sodium hydroxide(caustic soda), which would

have brought the concentration down to a safe level.

The MIC tank alarms had not worked for four years.

The water pressure was too weak to spray the escaping gases from

the stack. They could not spray high enough to reduce the


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Another reason: Danger signs ignored

Local journalist Rajkumar Keswanihad been warning that theCarbide plant was unsafe and thatits management was aware ofthis.

In 1981, a gas leak had killed oneworker. In 1982, 25 workers were

hospitalized after another gasleak. Dangerous amounts ofwater entered a tank containingmethyl isocyanate gas.


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The sto ry d idn 't jus t begin on

December 3 and end onDecember 4,1984. It is s ti l l

continuing.


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About the company

UCIL was the

Indian subsidiary

ofUnion CarbideCorporation

(UCC)

Union Carbide a

subsidiary of

Dow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Carbidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Carbide


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Civil and criminal cases are pending in the UnitedStates District Court, Manhattan and the DistrictCourt of Bhopal, India, involving UCC, UCILemployees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO atthe time of the disaster.

In June2010, seven ex-employees, including theformer UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopalof causing death by negligence and sentenced totwo years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000each, the maximum punishment allowed by law.

An eighth former employee was also convicted,but died before judgment was passed.


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Recent news:-Dow will sponsor London

Olympics: British PM David Cameron

Union Carbide still faces

charges of culpable homicide

in Bhopal in relation to the

disaster. The activists claimed

that the evidence includes US

court documents that provethat Dow traded Union

Carbide products in India,

thus violating a 1992 court

order.

Ethically,Dow Chemicals

must not be allowed tosponsor London 2012

Olympics as it is a successor

company of Union Carbide,

which was responsible for the

Bhopal gas tragedy.


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