Indian court convicts 8 in Bhopal disaster
An Indian court Monday found eight people guilty of negligence in failing to prevent one of the world's worst industrial accidents that killed thousands of people.
In December of 1984, a lethal plume of (methyl isocyanate) gas escaped from a storage tank at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state.
The government says around 3,500 people died in the first days after the accident. Activists say nearly three times that figure died immediately after the accident, and at least 25,000 people have since died from the lingering effects of the gas.
Sentences for the eight found guilty Monday have yet to be announced. The negligence charge carries a maximum imprisonment of two years. The convictions from the trial that lasted more than two decades can be appealed in higher courts.
The Indian government estimates a half-million people have been affected by the disaster. Residents today are still struggling with related health problems, from kidney and liver damage, to cancer and birth defects.
Union Carbide, which was purchased by the Dow Chemical company in 2001, has said an unidentified disgruntled employee sabotaged the factory. But activists contend that a faulty plant design or lax safety standards were to blame for the toxic leak.
The now defunct Union Carbide paid a settlement of $470 million to the Indian government in 1989. Disabled survivors say they have only received a small amount of that money, and that it is not enough to pay medical bills and replace lost income.
Dow Chemical has said its legal liabilities ended with that settlement.
VOANews
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