Forty years ago, an Indian city became the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.
On the night of 2 December, 1984, a poisonous gas leaked from Union Carbide India’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, enveloping the central Indian city in a deadly fog which killed thousands and poisoned about half-a-million people.
According to government estimates, around 3,500 people died within days of the gas leak and more than 15,000 in the years since. But activists say that the death toll is much higher, and that victims continue to suffer from the side-effects of being poisoned.
In 2010, an Indian court convicted seven former managers at the plant, handing down minor fines and brief prison sentences. But many victims and campaigners say that justice has still not been served, given the magnitude of the tragedy.
Union Carbide was a US company which Dow Chemicals bought in 1999.
Warning: This story contains details and photos that some readers may find distressing.
The Union Carbide factory – the site of the poisonous gas leak [Getty Images]
People exposed to the poisonous gas rest on a roadside on 4 December, 1984 in Bhopal [Getty Images]
A doctor treats a blinded victim in the immediate aftermath of the gas leak [Getty Images]
The gas leak triggered an exodus as people rushed to leave Bhopal in trains and buses [Getty Images]
People read about the tragedy in newspapers as it made headlines for days [Getty Images]
Victims and campaigners have alleged that many children were born with severe disabilities after the gas leak [Getty Images]
A survivor lights a candle in 2002 in front of portraits of some of the thousands killed by the gas leak [AFP]
In 2008, more than 40 children of victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy protested outside the prime minister’s house in capital Delhi, demanding economic and medical rehabilitation [Getty Images]
A photo of the derelict Union Carbide factory compound taken in 2009. [Getty Images]
A 2015 photo shows a wall of the Union Carbide factory covered with graffiti asking people to never forget the horror that Bhopal witnessed [Getty Images]
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