The twentieth century was a turning point for mankind, as the speed of technology development increased several dozen times. But next to the events that changed history for the better, there were several cases, and they became huge mistakes. The largest man-made disasters have changed the face of the entire planet and have led to terrible consequences. The largest of them is considered an accident at a chemical plant in Bhopal. It is an Indian city in the state of Madhya Pades, and it stood out nothing until December 3, 1984. This date has changed everything for the residents 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 aimed at attracting foreign investors to invest in local industry. The construction of a plant that produces pesticides for agriculture was approved. Initially, some of the chemicals were planned to be imported from other countries. But this turned out to be unprofitable, as competition in this market segment was very high. Therefore, production was transferred to another level, more complex and dangerous. In the 80s, the city of Bhopal (India) and its environs were distinguished by large crop failures, which led to a decrease in demand for plant products. Therefore, it was decided to sell the company, but the buyer was never found.
Plant before the accident
This deplorably famous plant was the property of Union Carbide India Limited, an American company specializing in the production of chemical fertilizers (pesticides). The Bhopal plant was a repository of 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, from which the lungs swell. If it is in a liquid state, it is similar in quality to sulfuric acid.
It also has very specific physical properties. The boiling point is 40 degrees Celsius, and this is the usual daily temperature for India. If even a small amount of water is added to the mixture, it begins to heat up actively, which starts a chain reaction, as a result of which the substance decomposes and hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide are released. Such a cocktail can destroy everyone who is in the affected area. Several systems were created at the plant that were supposed to prevent such a reaction, but they did not work due to a number of reasons given below.
Background to the accident
Before the Bhopal disaster occurred, there were several factors that predisposed to its occurrence. The first of these is the desire of the company owner to save money on wages. Therefore, they built their enterprise in India, where wages are tens of times lower than in developed countries. The skill level of such workers was not high enough, but their requests too. It was very financially beneficial.
The second factor is a violation of international standards for the storage of toxic substances. At the plants it is 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 plant management warned that you need to be as careful as possible and, if a siren sounds, evacuate immediately.
The 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, several accidents occurred at the plant.
Another important factor is the depreciation 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 certain that the release of lethal gas into the atmosphere was caused by the ingress of water into the tank with methyl isocyanate. This led to the boiling of the liquid, and the vapor under high pressure tore off the safety valve. How the water got into a substance with which it is very dangerous to contact with it is still unknown. There are two versions about this.
If you believe the first, then this is just a terrible accident. The day before, the surrounding area was flushed, and, since the pipes and valves were faulty, water fell into the tank with the MIC.
The second suggests that the Bhopal disaster was rigged. One of unscrupulous employees for their own reasons could connect a hose with water to the tank, and this triggered a 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 technological disaster.
Timeline
The Bhopal disaster happened on the night of December 2 to 3, 1984. About 6 tons of water fell into the container E610, which contained 42 tons of methyl isocyanate, for unknown reasons. This led to heating of the liquid to 200 degrees Celsius. Workers noticed the first signs of a malfunction of the tank with the MIC at 15 minutes in the first night, after a minute all the indicators had already doubled. In addition to sensors, a strong rattle announced the inevitable, which was published by a foundation cracked under the tank. The operators rushed to turn on the alarm systems, but they turned out to be simply absent. Therefore, they decided to manually cool the tank and began to pour water on it from the outside, but the reaction could not 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 toxic gas appeared in the atmosphere. Since the MIC is heavier than air, this deadly cloud began to creep along the ground and slowly creep into the territories surrounding the plant.
Nightmare
All these events occurred at night, so the entire population was peacefully asleep. But people immediately felt the action of a toxic substance. They were choked by a cough, their eyes were hot, it was simply impossible to breathe. This led to mass mortality in the first hours after the accident. The rising panic also did not help. Everyone was scared and did not understand what was happening. Doctors tried to help people, but did not know how. After all, the plant management did not want to disclose the composition of the gas because of trade secrets.
By morning, the cloud had cleared, but left a huge number of corpses. That was just the beginning. Thousands of people died in the next few days, besides this, nature also suffered very much: trees dropped foliage, animals died in large numbers.
Accident consequences
The fact that this catastrophe is recognized as the most deadly in history tells about its scale. In the first hours, poisonous gas claimed the lives of 3787 people, within two weeks after this unfortunate event, 8000 people died, in the following years another 8000.
Studies in 2006 showed terrible statistics: during the entire time after the release, 558,125 cases of visits to doctors were recorded due to chronic diseases that were caused by poisoning by the MIC. In addition, the Bhopal disaster has become a real environmental disaster. Toxins poisoned the entire environment for years to come. The company-owner of the plant paid a lot of money to the victims, but nothing can be fixed with this.
Plant after an accident
Even after the incident, the enterprise was not immediately closed. It continued to operate until the MIC was completely exhausted. 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 landfill of chemical waste, which poisoned the life of the whole city. To date, the plant has more than 400 tons of toxic substances that penetrate the earth and make water and grown products unsuitable for consumption. In 2012, the Indian authorities decided to dispose of the waste, but so far this is only in the plans.
Thus, the most terrifying technological disaster in the history of mankind was the Bhopal disaster (India). 1984 for this country became a symbol of death. Even after three decades, the consequences of this accident are relevant for the entire local population.