This December will mark 36 years since the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, considered as the "world's worst industrial disaster". The accident was a consequence of a gas leak incident on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant. Over 15,000 lives, thousands were left permanently injured or disabled, and hundreds of newborns suffered from congenital malformations. Here facts to know about the tragic event. Bhopal Gas Tragedy Survivors Accuse BMHRC of Criminal Negligence And Mismanagement After 6 Victims of Union Carbide Disaster Died of COVID-19.

More than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the pesticide plant in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2-3, immediately killing at least 3,800 people and leading to premature death for many thousands more in the days to come.

What Happened On The Unfortunate Night

At 11:00 PM on December 2, while most of the one million residents of Bhopal slept, an operator at the plant noticed a small leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and increasing pressure inside a storage tank. Reports have noted that the vent-gas scrubber, a safety device designer to neutralize toxic discharge from the MIC system, had been turned off three weeks prior to the accident. Apparently, a faulty valve allowed one ton of water for cleaning internal pipes to mix with forty tons of MIC.

At around 1.00 AM, December 3, loud rumbling reverberated around the plant as a safety valve gave way sending a plume of MIC gas into the air. Within hours, the streets of Bhopal were found with human corpses at several places, along with the carcasses of buffaloes, cows, dogs and birds.

Local hospitals were soon rushed with the injured, a crisis which was reportedly exacerbated by a lack of clarity on what gas was involved and what its effects were. The tragic event became one of the world's worst chemical disasters in history and the city of Bhopal became synonymous with industrial catastrophe.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 01, 2020 07:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).