The Bhopal Disaster which is commonly referred to

as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak incident in

India, considered one of the world’s worst
industrial catastrophes.

It occurred on the night of December

2-3,1984 at the Union Carbide India
Limited, a pesticide plant in Bhopal ,
Madhya Pradesh , India.

A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other

chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure
of hundreds and thousands of people.
UCIL was the Indian subsidiary
of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC),
with Indian Government controlled
banks and the Indian public holding a
49.1 percent stake.

It started in 1969 at the northern state

of India.

Phosgene, Monomethlyamine, Methyl

Isocyanate (MIC) and the pesticide
Carbaryl, also known as Sevin were
manufactured here.
UCC produced carbaryl using MIC
as an intermediate.

After the Bhopal plant was built,

other manufacturers including
Bayer produced carbaryl without
MIC, though at a greater
manufacturing cost.

However, Bayer also uses the UCC

process at the chemical plant once
owned by UCC at Institute, West
Virginia, USA and many other
states.
Methylamine (1) reacts with phosgene (2) producing methyl isocyanate (3)
which reacts with 1-naphthol (4) to yield carbaryl (5)
According to one theory:
Water leaked into tank from valves while workers
were cleaning the clogged pipe which is 400 feet
above it.
According to theory of UCC:
Water was directly introduced into tank
intentionally by a worker via a missing pressure
gauge .
It resulted in exothermic reaction and finally to a
explosion.
Cause Of Bhopal Disaster
 Use of a more dangerous pesticide manufacturing
method for decreasing generation cost.
Plant location close to a densely populated area.
Plant management deficiencies like :
Lack of skilled operators,
Reduction of safety management.
Insufficient maintenance and
inadequate emergency action plans.
 UCIL didn’t maintained safety rules.......
• A pipe leaked? Don't replace it.
• MIC workers needed more training. They could do with
less.
• The MIC tank alarms had not worked for four years.
• The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber had been out of
service for five months before the disaster.
• To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system was idle.
The MIC was kept at 20 degrees Celsius, not the 4.5
degrees advised by the manual.
• The steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes, was out of
action for unknown reasons.

• Carbon steel valves were used at the factory, even though

they corrode when exposed to acid.

• According to the operators the MIC tank pressure gauge

had been malfunctioning for roughly a week

• UCC admitted in their own investigation report that most

of the safety systems were not functioning on the night of
December 3, 1984.
Medical staff were unprepared for the thousands of
casualties.

Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper

treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They
were told to simply give cough medicine and eye
drops to their patients.

The gases immediately caused visible damage to

the trees. Within a few days, all the leaves fell off.

2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed

of.

"Operation Faith": On December 16, the tanks 611

and 619 were emptied of the remaining MIC. This
led to a second mass evacuation from Bhopal.