THE BHOPAL DISASTER - Night Of Death

It was one of the worst industrial accidents in history that occurred on the night of 2-3 December 1984 at the UNION CARBIDE INDIA LIMITED (UCIL) pesticide manufacturing plant in Bhopal, MP. 

About 45 tons of dangerous methyl isocyanate gas leaked from an insecticide factory 

owned by the Indian branch of the American firm UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION.

                                               

HOW DID IT HAPPEN ????

At the beginning of December 1984, the company began to manufacture many safety valves, which were already in poor condition, even for the pressure control in the E610  tank, they introduced water, which, due to an exothermic reaction, increased the pressure and temperature of the tank to an uncontrollable level.

 The reason for the Bhopal gas leak is also the presence of methyl isocyanide in an iron vessel with corroding stainless steel piping. Initially, the tank pressure was 2 psi at 10:30 p.m. and reached 10 psi by 11 p.m. By 11:30 p.m., workers in the MIC area experienced minor exposure to the MIC gas leak. 

This issue came to the MIC supervisor year at 11.45pm and they planned to make a decision after 12.15pm which is their tea break. Within five minutes of the tea break, the E610 tank reached a critical state and began to spread at an alarming rate. 

The tank temperature has reached a maximum range that is above 25 °C (77 °F) and the tank pressure has reached 40 psi (275.8 kPa). Within minutes, employees noticed cracks in the tank as the relief valve opened.

                                      

The chemical plant was surrounded by a populated area where thousands of people lived and when that accident happened, no one knew what exactly was happening, they panicked and left Bhopal to survive, but unfortunately they could not move and came in contact with this chemical by gas. 

The locals woke up in horror, their eyes red and lungs congested and coughing. The gas drifted through densely populated neighborhoods around the plant, killing several, with the final death toll estimated at 15,000 to 20,000. 

About half a million survivors suffered from respiratory problems, eye irritation or blindness, and other ailments from exposure to the toxic gas, and some of them they received several hundred dollars in compensation. 

                               

The Madhya Pradesh government has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas leak. But no one will ever know exactly how many thousands died that night.