Hundreds of people have died from the effects of toxic gases which leaked from a chemical factory near the central Indian city of Bhopal.
The accident happened in the early hours of this morning at the American-owned Union Carbide Pesticide Plant three miles (4.8 km) from Bhopal. Mr Y P Gokhale, managing director of Union Carbide in India, said that methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plant’s underground storage tank broke under pressure.This caused a deadly cloud of lethal gas to float from the factory over Bhopal, which is home to more than 900,000 people – many of whom live in slums.
Chaos and panic broke out in the city and surrounding areas as tens of thousands of people attempted to escape. More than 20,000 people have required hospital treatment for symptoms including swollen eyes, frothing at the mouth and breathing difficulties. Thousands of dead cats, dogs, cows and birds litter the streets and the city’s mortuaries are filling up fast.
Bhopal resident, Ahmed Khan, said: “We were choking and our eyes were burning. We could barely see the road through the fog, and sirens were blaring. We didn’t know which way to run. Everybody was very confused. Mothers didn’t know their children had died, children didn’t know their mothers had died and men didn’t know their whole families had died.”
The Union Carbide factory was closed immediately after the accident and three senior members of staff arrested. Medical and scientific experts have been dispatched to the scene and the Indian government has ordered a judicial inquiry. It is understood the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, will be flying to the area within the next few days.
This is a BBC article written about the Bhopal disaster, which is the real-life version of the situation described in Animal’s People (see conveners’ post). Interestingly, the descriptions highlight the loss of life, both human and wild animals, as well as the confusion and panic the disaster caused. Thoughts on the effects of illness mentally and physically, both to individuals and the community is important to consider, whilst also discussing the notion of blame. Another thing to look at is this minute-long news clip showing footage from 1984 (warning: some people may find the scenes disturbing).
Its funny that this is a BBC piece because it was on BBC that the ‘Yes Men’ posed as representatives of Dhow Chemical and staged a faux apology/outlined a compensation package. Here is a piece that gives some insight into the Yes Men and the stunt, which knocked 3% of the shares for the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WcZ65qxOo
And here is the original, live apology on the BBC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWlvBro9eI&feature=related
Thanks for the video clips, Sam and Tom. The footage from 1984 was very haunting.. While watching this news of the “real version” of Khaufpur, I kept questioning why the author intentionally had created this fictional village in the novel, instead of using the real name. I knew the novel was based on real event, but actually seeing them on the news is more shocking then I had expected.