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N0KFQ > TODAY 03.12.13 16:35l 81 Lines 3801 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 3
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<F1OYP<VK6ZRT<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 131203/1525Z 8043@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.57
Dec 3, 1984:
Explosion kills 2,000 at pesticide plant
An explosion at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India,
on this day in 1984, leads to the worst industrial accident in
history. At least 2,000 people died and another 200,000 were
injured when toxic gas enveloped the city.
Bhopal was a city of nearly a million people in India's Madhya
Pradesh region between New Dehli and Bombay. The Union Carbide
pesticide plant was located in Jai Prakash Nagar, a particularly
poor area of the impoverished city. Later, some critics charged
that these factors were part of the reason that the plant had
outdated equipment, lax management and grossly inadequate
maintenance and safety procedures.
On Sunday, December 2, the 100 workers on the late shift were in
the process of making the pesticide Sevin. This involved mixing
carbon tetrachloride, methyl isocyanate (MIC) and alpha-napthol.
Over the next 12 hours, a series of astonishing errors led to
disaster.
The MIC at the plant was stored in three partially buried
15,000-gallon tanks. When there was a problem with one of the
tanks, nitrogen was forced in to extract the MIC. However, on
this day, the process was not working correctly and both MIC and
nitrogen were leaking. At about 11:00 p.m., the gauges began to
indicate a dangerous level of pressure in the tanks, but the
workers thought the instruments were malfunctioning and took no
measures to alleviate the problem. By 11:30, the workers in the
vicinity of the tanks were having a physical reaction to the
leak, a feeling that many were familiar with because it happened
with some frequency. Even then, Shakil Qureshi, the supervisor,
decided to wait until after a tea break to look into the
situation. By then, it was too late, and panic ensued as an
explosion rocked the plant at approximately 12:15 a.m.
Firefighters attempted in vain to use a curtain of water to stop
the gas from escaping the plant. The gas simply flowed over the
top of the water. A piece of equipment called a vent gas
scrubber, intended to prevent toxic gas from spreading,
completely failed to operate. In the midst of the chaos, the
drivers of the emergency buses ran away instead of driving the
workers to safety. Even worse, the plant failed to inform local
authorities immediately, later claiming that the phones weren't
working.
People living in the vicinity of the plant were close enough to
hear the alarms but ignored them on December 3 because alarms at
the plant were so frequent. The cold weather that evening kept
the gas close to the ground as it silently swept through Bhopal.
Anyone who was already weak or frail was affected most seriously.
Exposure to the gas caused vomiting and difficulty breathing.
When the gas hit the train station, stampedes resulted as people
tried to outrun it. Victims flooded the area hospitals, which
were not prepared for the onslaught. The best and most effective
treatment was a simple wet cloth over the face, but virtually
none of the medical personnel dispensed this information.
An exact casualty count was impossible to determine in the
aftermath of this disaster but most estimates place the death
toll at over 2,000. An estimated 200,000 people were affected in
some way by exposure to the gas. Some were blinded; others
experienced serious sleep or digestion problems following the
disaster. About 10-20 percent of those exposed were still
suffering serious problems, such as memory loss and nerve damage,
a year later.
When Union Carbide officials arrived in India following the
Bhopal disaster, they were arrested. None were convicted, despite
evidence suggesting that management was substantially negligent
in the management of the plant.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Using Outpost Ver 2.8.0 c42
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