Bhopal disaster: causes, victims, consequences

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

The 20th century has become a turning point for humanity, as the speed of technology development has increased several dozen times. But next to the events that changed history for the better, there were several cases that became huge mistakes. The largest man-made disasters have changed the face of the entire planet and led to terrible consequences. The biggest of them is considered an accident at a chemical plant in Bhopal. This is an Indian city in the state of Madhya Padesh, and it did not stand out in any way until December 3, 1984. This date changed everything for the people of Bhopal.

History of the construction of the plant

In the 1970s, the Indian government decided to boost its economy with foreign capital. Therefore, a special program was introduced to attract foreign investors to invest in local industry. The construction of a plant that would produce pesticides for agriculture was approved. Initially, part of the chemicals was planned to be imported from other countries. But it turned out to be unprofitable, since the competition in this market segment was very high. Therefore, production was transferred to another level, more complex and dangerous. ATIn the 1980s, the city of Bhopal (India) and its environs were distinguished by large crop failures, which led to a decrease in demand for the plant's products. Therefore, it was decided to sell the enterprise, but the buyer was never found.

The plant before the accident

This infamous plant was owned by Union Carbide India Limited, an American company that specialized in the production of chemical fertilizers (pesticides). The Bhopal plant was a repository for a very toxic substance, methyl isocyanate, or MIC. This is a deadly poisonous substance, which, in a state of gas, when it enters the mucous membrane, instantly burns it out, from which the lungs swell. If it is in a liquid state, then its qualities are similar to sulfuric acid.

It also has very specific physical properties. The boiling point is 40 degrees Celsius, and this is quite the usual daytime temperature for India. If even a small amount of water is added to the mixture, it begins to actively heat up, which starts a chain reaction, as a result of which the substance decomposes and hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide are released. Such a cocktail is capable of destroying everyone who is in the affected area. Several systems were put in place at the plant to prevent such a reaction, but they did not work due to a number of reasons listed below.

Preconditions for an accident

Before the Bhopal disaster happened, there were several factors that predisposed to its occurrence. The first one is desirethe plant-owning company save money on wages. Therefore, they built their enterprise in India, where wages are ten times lower than in developed countries. The skill level of such workers was not high enough, but neither were their demands. It was very profitable financially.

The second factor is the violation of international standards for the storage of toxic substances. The factories are allowed to store no more than 1 ton of MIC, and in Bhopal it was already 42 times more, that is, 42 tons.

The third factor is the negligent attitude of local residents to the warnings that were published in the newspaper. The management of the plant warned that you need to be as careful as possible and, if the siren sounds, immediately evacuate.

Next is that the city of Bhopal at that time had a government that constantly turned a blind eye to non-compliance with safety regulations, and as a result, there were several accidents at the factory.

Another important factor is the wear and tear of equipment, the replacement of which cost a lot of money. That is why all the systems that were supposed to prevent the accident were either under repair or simply turned off.

Causes of the disaster

The official cause of the accident has not been established. It is only known for sure that the release of deadly gas into the atmosphere was caused by water entering the tank with methyl isocyanate. This caused the liquid to boil, and the high-pressure fumes tore off the safety valve. How did water get into a substance with which it is very dangerous to contact,unknown so far. There are two versions of this.

If you believe the first, it's just a terrible accident. The day before, the surrounding area was flushed, and, since the pipes and valves were faulty, water got into the container with the MIC.

The second one says that the Bhopal disaster was staged. One of the unscrupulous employees, for his own reasons, could connect a hose with water to the tank, and this started the reaction. But which of these versions is true, no one knows. It is only clear that the constant desire to save money has become the true cause of this man-made disaster.

Chronology of events

The Bhopal disaster happened on the night of December 2-3, 1984. For unknown reasons, about a ton of water got into the E610 container, which contained 42 tons of methyl isocyanate. This led to the heating of the liquid up to 200 degrees Celsius. The workers noticed the first signs of a malfunction of the tank with the MIC at 15 minutes into the first night, a minute later all indicators had already doubled. In addition to sensors, the inevitable was announced by a strong rattle, which was emitted by the foundation cracked under the tank. The operators rushed to turn on the emergency systems, but, as it turned out, they were simply absent. Therefore, they decided to manually cool the tank and began to pour water on it from the outside, but the reaction could no longer be stopped. At 00.30, the emergency valve simply could not withstand the enormous pressure and burst. Over the next hour, more than 30 tons of poisonous gas was released into the atmosphere. Since the MIC is heavier than air, it is deadlythe cloud began to spread along the ground and slowly spread over the territories surrounding the plant.

Nightmare

All these events happened at night, so the entire population slept peacefully. But people immediately felt the effect of the poisonous substance. They were choking with a cough, their eyes were burning, it was simply impossible to breathe. This led to mass mortality already in the first hours after the accident. The rising panic didn't help either. Everyone was scared and did not understand what was happening. Doctors tried to help people, but did not know how. After all, the management of the plant did not want to disclose the composition of the gas because of a trade secret.

By morning the cloud dispersed, but left behind a huge number of corpses. This was just the beginning. Over the next few days, thousands of people died, in addition, nature also suffered greatly: trees shed their leaves, animals died en masse.

Consequences of the accident

The fact that this catastrophe is recognized as the deadliest in history speaks of its scale. In the first hours, the poisonous gas claimed the lives of 3787 people, within two weeks after this unfortunate event, 8000 people died, in subsequent years another 8000.

Studies in 2006 showed a horrifying statistic: during the entire time after the release, there were 558,125 cases of visits to doctors due to chronic diseases that were caused by MIC poisoning. In addition, the Bhopal disaster has become a real environmental disaster. Toxins poisoned the entire environmentWednesday for years to come. The company that owns the plant paid a huge amount of money to the victims, but this will not fix anything.

Factory after the accident

Even after the incident, the enterprise was not closed immediately. It continued to work until the MIC reserves were completely used up. In 1986, however, the plant was closed, and its equipment was sold. But no one even tried to completely eliminate the danger zone. It was simply turned into a chemical waste dump that poisoned the life of the entire city. Until today, there are more than 400 tons of toxic substances on the territory of the plant, which penetrate the ground and make water and grown products unsuitable for consumption. In 2012, the Indian authorities decided to dispose of waste, but so far this is only in the plans.

Thus, the most terrifying man-made disaster in the history of mankind was the Bhopal disaster (India). 1984 for this country has become a symbol of death. Even after three decades, the consequences of this accident are relevant for the entire local population.