HMCS Max Bernays Pre-Deployment Brief (May 2024).pptx
Bhopal disaster
1.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Methylamine (1) reacts with phosgene (2) producing methyl isocyanate (3)
which reacts with 1-naphthol (4) to yield carbaryl (5)
6. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. • 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.
11.
12. • It is estimated that total deaths
are about 20,000 upto 20 years
after disaster.
• It is estimated 1,00,000 to
2,00,000 people have permanent
injuries.
• Reported symptoms are eye
problems , respiratory difficulties,
immune and neurological
disorders, cardiac failure secondary
to lung injury, birth defects among
children born to affected women. Dead bodies of victims of that
massacre
13. 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.
14. Immediate relief was decided two days after the tragedy.
Relief measures commenced in 1985 when food was
distributed for a short period and ration cards were
distributed.
Widow pension of the rate of Rs 200/per month (later Rs
750) was provided.
One-time ex-gratia payment of Rs 1,500 to families with
monthly income Rs 500 or less was decided.
2,486 flats in two- and four-story buildings were
constructed in the "Widows colony" outside Bhopal. The
water did not reach the upper floors. It was not possible to
keep cattle. Infrastructure like buses, schools, etc. were
missing for at least a decade.
15. Indian government closed plant to outsiders and failed in making
the data public.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) were
forbidden to publish their data on health effects until after 1994
The Indian Government and UCC deny permanent injuries were
caused by MIC
UCIL paid a token of $470 million even though asked a total
compensation of $3.3billion.But the government said nothing
The government sent safely Mr. Anderson the CEO of UCIL at the
time of massacre, to US
Civil and criminal cases are still pending in United States District
Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India,
involving UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson
