The Union Carbide Gas Leak | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
- "On 2nd of December, 1984, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from The Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India..."
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Background
03:46 - The Union Carbide Gas Leak
08:29 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
SOURCES:
► "Bhopal: The World's Worst Industrial Disaster, 30 Years Later" by Alan Taylor, published by The Atlantic, December 2014. Link: www.theatlantic.com/photo/201....
► "Bhopal Gas Tragedy Information" by the Union Carbide Corporation, published on bhopal.com. Link: www.bhopal.com/.
► "'Bhopal’s tragedy has not stopped': the urban disaster still claiming lives 35 years on" by Hannah Ellis-Petersen, published by The Guardian, December 2019. Link: www.theguardian.com/cities/20....
► "The Bhopal Disaster: How It Happened" by Stuart Diamond, published by The New York Times, January 1985. Available via: www.nytimes.com/1985/01/28/wo....
► "Long-delayed report on Bhopal disaster offers little new information" by T V Padma, published by Nature Medicine, January 2005. Link: www.nature.com/articles/nm010....
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
Ah yes, "the external alarm was quickly shut off so as to not create a panic." Wouldn't want people panicking and, you know, running for their lives or anything... this is probably the worst disaster on the channel yet.
All thanks to american profits over safety. Look up "warren anderson" to see the real story and how he fled the country the next day with armed gaurds to avoid charges.
Biggest death toll if I'm not mistaken
This is the worst non-natural disaster in history, period. Far worse than any nuclear plant meltdown can even aspire to be.
Aren’t alarm meant to warn people ?
I saw a picture in an article I read about this article, and it looked like a man covering his face and bags with a shawl from the gas. It was only later I saw feet and realized that the man was carrying his wifes body away from the gas. This disaster was avoidable and tragic
"It's potentially deadly, and people already have symptoms of poisoning, but we'll fix it after our tea break." Mind-boggling.
You look like a woman but you have a beard
Government-enforced affirmative action programs forced UCIL to hire local workers with little or no training rather than UCC's established experts. That probably had something to do with it.
@@mungerine they had seen people getting sick and identified a leak. I expect they followed a supervisor's orders, and your average person wouldn't question them.
I guess they were out of action
@@WolfRaven119 Agreed. Negligence all around.
Props for calling it the "Union Carbide gas leak" and not the "Bhopal disaster". It's always good to see people point out who's really at fault.
Especially when if this disaster is remembered at all, it's only known as Bhopal.
Yep, the American company, Union Carbide is responsible. Americans in the comments section blame India.
@@justinbarion2269 There is still responsibility of the Indian government as the facility was operating in their jurisdiction. As always, it's the people that suffer all the consequences while those responsible at all levels make off unscathed. It's heartbreaking.
@@Thirsty_Fox Don't let Union Carbide of the hook. They identified problems and safety improvements but didn't do them in Bhopal yet they did do them to their US plant without any coercion.
@@zetectic7968 Oh I don't think anyone involved should be off the hook. It's incredible but a stark reminder that no level of government or corporation actually cares about anyone but themselves and their bottom line. Getting people killed is just an operating expense like utilities as far as they're concerned. All these hundreds thousands of people impacted and there's nothing they can even do but try to live with it. I'm lost for words.
I think this is the most horrific one you've covered yet. The negligence and indifference continuing to this day, the sheer lack of consequences or lessons taken forward, the massive human impact, and then the fact that it's still not even been cleaned up, absolutely staggering.
I think you hit the nail on the head. This guy always looks for what small silver linings can be found after these disasters (lessons learned, ways the world has changed for the better, etc.), but there's nothing here. Just suffering.
God bless America
And as usual, it is never just one incident that caused this to happen. A series of incidents, where if any one of them was removed from the equation, we wouldn't be discussing this now. Greed,complacency, and stupidity all played a part in this disaster . The one constant here is the human factor.
I'm surprised that India ever allowed another American company to operate there.
@@netgnostic1627 money bribes no compassion for human life
I'd love to see a Chernobyl-style docudrama about Bhopal. It's incredible how the largest non-nuclear industrial disaster in history remains unknown to too many people.
Because it happened in a country where the population isn't white , no body would care .
There is a good documentary about it from "Seismic Seconds" the series that later evolved into "Seconds from Disaster"
We all know why it’s more expensive than it “usually” is: it’s just too damn valuable for our governments NOT to lie about the safety risks faced by those who undergo our own safety inspections, risks and standards. Do not let abysmally small profit margins fool you: the kind of work that the desperate are looking for is but a fraction of what we can actually muster.
incredible or p much according to plan? I'm sure the parties responsible are well and truly happy with that outcome.
That's becoz even the Indian govt tried to downplay the event
The fact the facility has not been cleaned up is the most mind bogling part to me.
How can you leave an activ toxic leak for nearly 50 years aside a city with millions of people, and not clean it up?
This is the worst part of all of it.
And, as a Fascinating Horror veteran myself, the fact that a conclusion or lesson section is missing from this episode just puts more weight on the fact that this toxic leak has not been cleaned up at all.
This is so mind bogling to me I cant feel anger properly due to the shock of no cleanup being done.
Just...
I dont know...
Wellllllll the largest city was only 50,000 then and is less now
If I'm not mistaken, a similar situation is in Flint Michigan, and probably other dying American cities. Long defunct industrial plants continue to leach chemicals into the environment. If such a thing happens in the US, it could be much worse in a poorer country. I think it is a case of those with money not taking responsibility, and those with the responsibility not having money.
@@randybobandy9208 oh, they have the money but it isn't to clean up after themselves.
@@randybobandy9208 right. _Extract, bleed, leach, abandon, relocate, repeat._
@@randybobandy9208 I'm from flint. Most of the factories were torn down actually. There may be some around leeching chemicals into our water but our biggest problem is STILL our damn lead water. We may be in a turn around period tho. I've noticed quite a few new factories have been built so maybe this town can get back a small fraction of it's former glory. Who knows tho were in a deep pit as a city and it's hard to see the light rn.
I just can't get my head around the fact that they switched the emergency alarm off because they didn't want to panic people.Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
The same folks who took their tea break before looking into the leak.
The act makes one think of "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" for all the good it did.
A giant deadly gas leak has to be one of the best possible excuses for inciting panic, right?
@@TheZombifiedGuy Supervisor: "No, turn off the siren! If people hear it, they might scream."
Worker: "Yes... and?"
Supervisor: "And then the gas will hear them screaming and find them and attack! Obviously!"
Worker: "Dammit, you're right! That's why you're in charge."
Reminds one of Chernobyl. Certainly puts the lie to "better living through chemistry."
"In order to keep the plant in operation, budget cuts were made across the board, including a sharp reduction in routine maintenance and safety training." Well, I can't imagine how this disaster might have happened then.
Hey you there, how dare you think rationally and with logic. Who do you think you are!?
How often have we heard something similar for most of these stories?
The local government cared more about the local economy. They looked the other way at holding the plant responsible. They had an active leak but preferred to have their tea first. They chose to turn off the external alarm. They did so much shady crap and they want to come after the US guy? I wouldn’t hand him over either. The residents should hold their own government responsible.
Look up "warren anderson" to find out this was an american company using cheap slave labour in india and didn't want to spend money on maintenance bcoz it takes out of profits.
I mean, SERIOUSLY what possibly could go wrong?!
The Bhopal disaster was one of the first industrial accidents I can remember reading about. Even at a young age it made me upset and angry that practically nothing has been done to punish those responsible. Safety of people, both workers and public, has been a large part of my ethos over the years and I have reported many unsafe things and left jobs over them. People over profits.
Good on you.
I do agree with you but would make a caveat, a business that isn't making profit can't improve their infrastructure and maintain safety. But a business like Union Carbide actively choosing to allow infrastructure to deteriorate instead of investing the profits back into the business is quite disgusting.
@@goawayleavemealone2880 the decline in pesticide purchases should’ve meant safety was kept perfect throughout and that the shareholders take a minor hit for a few brief years. instead big boss profits remained high and the workers took the toll. if you have $470million spare for a lawsuit then the business clearly wasn’t suffering much. pure greed.
@@goawayleavemealone2880 that's a pretty pathetic excuse.
@@WouldntULikeToKnow. - It's not an excuse, it's a reality for some businesses... they don't make enough profit to maintain their interests.
Union Carbide was not one of those businesses, what they allowed to happen was disgusting and is still disgusting. But let's not pretend that this is black and white, for all businesses.
Many people live near industrial plants and have no idea that inside that plant is a map. The map shows the area affected if it all goes wrong and is used to calculate the insurance cost of a disaster. I have worked at many plants that have this but luckily they were all well managed and the risk was taken seriously.
I'm from an Indian family, and had heard of this disaster, but until now I hadn't known the extent of the negligence involved, or how far reaching the effects on both the people and the environment. Thank you for this. Its too easy for people to forget . I'm glad you are teaching about the events those in power are too ready to brush under the rug.
Pssssst, don't look up "warren anderson" if you don't want to admit this was american businessman putting profits over safety using cheap foreign slave labour and how he fled the country the next day to avoid charges.
The Indian government seems to have a bad habit of ignoring or covering up corruption. This is an extreme example, but there are plenty more. Not the least of which, an entire industry of scam call centers stealing life savings from seniors. Elder abuse and mass poisonings don't even get the to act, heartless incompetence.
Too bad the dumb workers were responsible for this.
in my opinion this event was one of the few tragedies on an unimaginable scale that made it truly horrific, not to mention it occurred at night when most people were asleep and had little warning or chance of escape.
All thanks to american greed and use of cheap slave labour in foreign countries and not paying for safety.
They did have a warning siren in place but they "quickly shut it off so as not to create a panic." Even when warning systems were functioning correctly they just shut them off immediately. The negligence involved in this one blows my freaking mind.
Actually the people that slept through it all were fine. It was the ones that panicked and ran in the streets that were injured. That's the thing about fume inhalation. The more you inhale the worse off you are.
It's always reassuring when lessons are learned and steps are taken to make things righ- oh.
I know right? america never learns from their mistakes bcoz they are so mentally challenged. 🤣
But first, let's take a tea break.
Indra Sinha's novel Animal's People is set within the aftermath of this disaster and directly talks about the effect it had - and continues to have - on the people of Bhopal. It's a very, very good read and I'd 100% recommend it to anyone interested.
Sinha himself has been involved in the campaign for justice for the victims of the disaster and has written extensively on the subject outside of the novel, also.
Excellent book
Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks. I ordered a copy on eBay. :)
Just ordered the book on your recommendation, thank you.
@@missmodernDid you like it?
Easily the worst disaster you've covered by far. No lessens learned, no closure, nothing that makes one of your videos so special, and it hurts! The wasn't negligence that was active malicious intent! A video without your coda makes me very angry at the whole situation!
A typical american doctorate when using cheap slave labour in foreign companies, profits over life.
Criminally negligent homicide, I believe, would be one possible charge. Gross negligence.
True. And Indian courts are a joke at the best of times, so even lawsuits wouldn't provide any meaningful relief.
Are you sure there are no lessons learned?
Personally, I've never understood what people mean by "closure", but I can assure you Bhopal is the most studied of industrial accidents outside of Chernobyl, and the results are complex. Not of a nature to satisfy those believing complex problems have simple answers. It's not just good guys and bad guys.
You're totally right...this is why it is so so important to have laws and courts that are not corrupt.
The Indian government had a 25% stake in the company. The reason they didn't do anything about the non-existent safety standards was not a concern about lost jobs for the population, but rather a concern about lost revenue for themselves. This case is just a sad example of greed in action.
Can't disagree with that 😔
To make it even worse, if you count firms controlled by the government, they actually owned around 49.1%.
There is a difference between local and central govt.
The central govt had the stake, not the local govt
Makes me wonder about modern scan call centers in Kolkata. Do they have a financial stake in stealing the elderly life savings as well? Something keeps them from taking action with the embarrassing wealth of evidence.
@@johnl5350 umm, with all due respect you should not make assumptions about something you have no idea about. The taking action against scammers is more of a law enforcement thing, and while they can be painfully slow, a lot of scammers are caught daily. There's just too many of them and they do cover their tracks well. Saying that govt holds a share in those scammers' profits is like saying all national govts hold shares in criminal activities in their respective nations.
Having been born in 1986 "Union Carbide" was always a pop culture buzz word synonym for obviously disastrous operations. But I never understood the context until this video.
They come up every now and then in Plainly Difficult’s videos as well, which is where I first heard of them.
I remember in the Problem Child 2 movie in 1992, there was a quick reference to the Union Carbide plant exploding, when the villain read that in a news article.
@@princessmarlena1359 if you only know this story from this biased channel you have no idea what really happened. Look up "warren anderson" to learn the real facts about how this american put profits over safety and how he fled the country the next day to avoid charges over the preventable deaths of thousands.
@@tylerdurden4006 jeez, what’s your problem?
6:00 That fact that the external alarm was turned off to avoid alarming residents is both tragic and ironic, but I've experienced the same red tape. Last year I was involved in an accident at work and was left with my hand trapped and partly crushed for almost an hour. During a 999 (British 911) call, the operator asked a colleague of mine: "Is his condition deteriorating?" My colleague replied that yes, I was starting to lose feeling in my arm. The operator then replied, "Okay, we'll tell the fire crew to turn their lights on. We try not to use them because it distracts other road users."
What a very proper, British response. I'm sorry you had to endure that nonsense!
A late reply - but I have heard of this before. It's a risk assessment of whether accidents are caused by people reacting dangerously when the lights and siren are on when they try to get out of the way. If the fire engine is involved in an accident it is delayed reaching the emergency.
In the same way, years ago, a friend who was a highway engineer told me that she had to assess whether putting in pedestrian crossing would prevent or cause more accidents.
Sorry for ur accident. How r u now?
Everyone always brings up Chernobyl as the worst technogenic catastrophe, but the Bhopal disaster, while objectively worse by every conceivable metric, is not being talked about nearly as much.
That's because in the western world it's much more trendy to slam the Russians then it is the Indians.
@@kenosabi well it did happen during the Cold War.
The Bhopal in terms of body count is a disaster but Chernobyl is literally inhabitable that pissed off the Belarusian and a wide spread propaganda for the US to use against the Russians.
Bhopal is swept under the rug and didn’t gain as much media coverage back then, especially during the time the Western world didn’t care much for India.
Bcoz americans will always try their best to cover up their mistakes that cost lives in the name of profits. Look up "warren anderson" to find out the real story about how this disaster happened bcoz they put profits over safety using cheap foreign slave labour and how he fled the country the next day back to america to avoid charges.
While it is not fair, we do feel more 'affected' by problems that are closer to home, or where we can relate. Yemen has been in war for 8 years, but all yes are on Ukraine. Sad.
1) it's not like there's plenty of material to work with when it comes to the Russians
2) its no different than Three Mile Island; there is something about nuclear power that is sexy/nightmare inducing that draws people's attention.
3) it may not be an anti-Russian thing so much as:
catastrophe with white people = Tragedy
catastrophe with brown people = Tuesday
Also: did you have people become the Incredible Melting Man and have their bodies melt before your eyes?
In the end, it comes down to corporate media and what they choose to report and how.
The mention of Union Carbide alone was bad news enough, but even that didn’t prepare me for the extent of this disaster.
The fact that there still hasn’t been an adequate response in the 30+ years since the incident is both depressing and infuriating.
"warren anderson" the american businessman responsible for this fled the country the very next day to escape charges.
The company we love to hate.
Thank you for covering this. I am from Bhopal. When I used to live there I used to pass through UC area very frequently. When I was in college we used to visit the families who lived nearby when the disaster happened. They narrated what they saw, how they felt. They told us about local heroes who saved many lives but couldn't save their own. How entire platforms of railway stations were filled with dead people who looked like they were just sleeping. Children till this day are born with birth defects.
Also the death count of 3,800 I personally believe is very low. It exceeds 15,000 in my opinion in the immediate aftermath.
Let us not forget that Union Carbide Limited of India was an Indian owned and operated company. Obviously. You people tried to blame an American corporation for it all but that was a lie.
@@1pcfred Yeah the ignorance is really strong with you. How dare you say this was just "an indian company" "you people" blablabla. It was backed by American greed. This is coming from an American conservative. Have some backbone
@@maxfullerton5228 what happened in India is totally on the Indians that owned and ran that plant. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) told them to upgrade the flare and they couldn't even be bothered to replace a 3 foot long length of pipe let alone replace it all. UCC was only licensing them formulas and consulting. Beyond that UCC had absolutely nothing at all to do with Union Carbide Limited of India (UCLoI). Of course the Indians tried to shift the blame onto UCC. Quit being an idiot and falling for it. There's no effing way a US corporation would run anything like that plant was run. It was a bad investment made by Indians and they ran it into the ground. The "accident" was a deliberate act of sabotage that was caused by a disgruntled Indian employee. They were just fed up with the whole situation. There's no way water could have gotten into that tank by accident. Someone put a hose into it. No one tells you about that either though, now do they? You've been lied to. Wake up already.
I m from bhopal too. Living in the middle east. What about u?
@@maryanne7161 I'm from Bhopal living in the US.
It amazes me how there are always cut backs in these types of stories because those in charge argue that 'it beneficial for the factory/business to remain open' but then the cut backs cutting safety do eventually cause death and the factory/business to close.
It is interesting that the official death toll is less than 4,000. Yet I was getting reports, at the time, from residents of Bhopal that more than that many people died just at the railway station. The death toll may easily have been ten times as high. It is really sad that you can die, and not even be a statistic.
Wow.
A figure of four times the official number has been mentioned at 16000 deaths.
@@ingvarhallstrom2306 - From the reports I was getting directly from Bhopal at the time, that 16,000 figure is definitely the low end of the possible casualty range.
Didn’t the video mention the hospitals had more than 170,000 casualties? Is that number death casualties or a mix of living vs dead? Since he said “casualties”, I thought he meant dead victims.
americans made sure they report less than the actual numbers bcoz it was an american that responsible for this.
I was in college when this happened.
A few days after the disaster, my organic chemistry professor stated that "these people shouldn't have lived so close to the plant".
I remember it to this day as one of the most outrageous, uninformed and callous statements I have ever heard in my life.
I hope he revisited his opinion.
They didn't move close to the plant - the plant was built near their neighborhood. It's like those pictures that show a map of US military bases surrounding the USSR and say "They obviously want war, look how close they put their country to our military bases!"
@@quillmaurer6563 Exactly!
@@ellag3265 Correct. I was 20 at the time and for the life of me I could not understand why a "smart man", at least 20 years my senior did not seem to (want to?) comprehend that.
@@ellag3265 Agreed - likewise if there was reason to re-locate the nearby residents, that cost should be on the company. But too often that doesn't happen. I've heard terrible stories about the poor Mayan people in Guatemala who's villages were flooded by construction of a new dam, the asked for help and compensation for their land and were massacred instead.
Unless he actually added some comment like "therefore they deserved it", consider that you may have misunderstood his meaning. The statement as written is correct and uncontroversial -- residential areas and chemical plants shouldn't be that close together, it's dangerously risky, as this disaster amply demonstrates.
The Yes Men culture-jammers did a brilliant direct action where they impersonated Dow Chemical spokespeople and held a press conference where they announced they were accepting full responsibility for Bhopal (Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide, but refused to accept any of its legal responsibility or debts), and would be issuing restitution. When the impersonation was discovered, Dow was put in the position of having to explain they were not, in fact, accepting any responsibility and would not be paying any restitution.
I like that...
Too bad it's not enough and these slimy people always get away with minimal consequences...
Like blaming some fall guy at the plant instead of management who pushed for those conditions in the first place.
What a class act: "we accept to buy this company to establish a new market and reap benefits 💰💰💰 but no, we aren't bound to shoulder its past faults 🤑"
Let's hope with things as the rise of pesticide free agriculture, these swines will go bankrupt and cry blood.
@@nozoto they're just investing in new kinds of (digital) poison.
I remember that.
Funfact:
somewhere in the media (I forgot who and where) someone said that this Yes-man stunt was bad because it mocked the victims of that accident.
So, according to that person it was not Dow Chemicals not taking responsibility which was mocking the victims,
but the Yes-Man _reminding_ everyone that Dow Chemicals not taking responsibility which mocked the victims.
Sorry for forgetting who said this,
but what I very much _DO_ remember is how I felt about this statement.
And words like "enraged" or "angry" do not event beginn to desribe my feelings.
However, I remember that the people from Bhopal were asked what they actually thought about the Yes-Men's stunt.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
They thanked them.
For reminding the world how they were treated.
This is covered in the documentary _The Yes Men Fix the World_ , which shows the troupe visiting Bhopal after the stunt and meeting with still-living victims of the accident. Worth a look just to see the still-living victims speak about it in their own words.
I'm disgusted that Union Carbide hasn't even attempted to decontaminate the site.
Disgusted but not surprised
That's the least they could do, even though the gas already spread to the surroundings...
I wonder how the procedures would take place in this instance, by the way... Would they act like the liquidators of nuclear disaster sites, or is there a more secure way to decontaminate affected grounds? If anybody familiar with the topic could reply, it'd be much appreciated.
why would they? it would cost them money.
profits over people.
I believe Union Carbide are still keeping the exact chemical composition secret from the doctors, despite the continuing birth defects.
What’s to decontaminate?
I hadn’t heard that was an issue?
The 10 minutes tea break was truly a fascinating horror
That went on for almost an hour.
This accident was mind boggling. I just read a great nonfiction book called Five Past Midnight in Bhopal. It gives a very very good account of the history of the entire factory, the people involved, and the events that led up to the disaster.
I agree. A great book. Gives a lot more information about the despicable antics of Union Carbide and Warren Anderson
I saw this book in my college library.
The Indian government should have been held partially liable for this.
Absolutely! As well as the idiots who went on a tea break and the Indian people managing the plant. I’m usually anti-capitalist BS but in this case it’s definitely not all on Union Carbide. The Indian government and its people were just as complicit
None of the compensation they did receive went toward clean up. Really unbelievable it still remains in that state.
Still should
Nooo! It’s the evil corporations! Politicians are righteous! 😂
Well, this is the problem with the law that lawyers take advantage of. If the local government and the company is at fault then no-one is at fault. Why should Union Carbide pay out if the local government is also responsible? It's a totally garbage argument, but it is used all the time.
The Bhopal disaster is utterly shameful and disgusting. As a research chemist, I can't even put into words how insane the total lack of care and safety that caused this event is. Even tiny gram-size quantities of these chemicals are treated very carefully in the lab due to their toxicity.
To have a pointlessly huge 204,000 litre capacity for such a toxic chemical on one site, not even maintain the tanks properly, not train the staff properly, allow corrosion of the equipment and on top of it all not even have a working safeguard system...
It is mind blowing. To the extent I feel like it should have been treated like 3000+ counts of murder, because it was inevitable the disaster was going to happen with this wilful stupidity and sociopathic greed from the people in charge.
It really is sociopathic greed. Nicely stated.
Unequivocally this was at very least 3000 counts of negligent manslaughter
The problem there is the responsible party was the Indian government itself and they weren't about to punish themselves. You're buying into the big lie they pushed. Union Carbide Corporation did not own this chemical plant. Union Carbide Limited of India was it's own entity. Entirely run by Indians. Shocking, I know. But not really shocking when you begin to examine all of the details. This video almost admits that fact if you pay attention. Union Carbide Limited of India licensed formulas from Union Carbide Corporation. UCC also did some consulting work. But that advise was completely ignored. UCC told UCLoI to not only repair the flare line but upgrade it. Of course that was never done. A 3 foot length of pipe and they couldn't even be bothered to replace it. There's curry powder all over this disaster.
Omg I'm glad that my requested topic got covered... I remember getting so angry while reading about this incident in my school textbooks at an early age.
Even now most Indians don't know or remember about this disaster and how it has affected so many lives. Only a small paragraph in an old history book is what remains of the memory of the disaster.
Thank you so much FH for covering this incident
Oh good, an external warning system for the town, so they can react in time and be safe. What a good, responsible thing to do... And it is immediately turned off. Of course.
And this corporation still operates in Charleston WV. Yes they are polluting the Ohio river and Charleston’s drinking water
It helps when your Supreme Court allow legal bribery to happen and they have brought enough gop and corporate congressmen
This is why everyone should oppose imperialism, especially by their own government.
If you turn a blind eye to your own governments and corporations poisoning people in other countries, then you're giving them a green light to poison you and your own people in your own country.
nice. sometimes you kinda wish for some mob justice (in minecraft obv hehe). it's so freaking disgusting.
Kanawha river flows into the ohio at pt. Pleasant (mothman town)
This is unacceptable
"What's that? Is there poisonous gas building up in the pipe? We'll then we shou-*looks at watch* oh bugger, it's tea time. Welp, let us have a little break lads but after that, we must attend to those pipes"
Nothing like a tea break with the boys after the gas fumes start giving you that little buzz
The one that suggested it was probably the one that caused the sabotage. Or it was just a general mood in the plant by then. I'm sure the writing was on the paint peeling walls. They all knew the end was near. Part of what caused the disaster was they had too much chemicals in the tanks. That's because they weren't making product. The plant had been failing for quite some time.
I think this might be the first time I've seen someone refer to this tragedy as "The Union Carbide Gas Leak" rather than "The Bhopal Disaster".
Great shift in accountability, really appreciated
I'm 43 and I've never heard of or been told about this catastrophe, thanks for sharing 👍
You were a toddler, I was just out of college and the word 'Bhopal' is in my long term memory for disasters, like 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl.....Jonestown....War in Iraq....etc....
I heard about Bhopal during high school, when we learnt about Chernobyl (both happened in the mid 80's)
The more terrifying part of this disaster, there were 3 tanks of MIC each had 30 to 35 tons of MIC. Only one tank blew and the fear was the others could go just as easily. A professor from the University of India made the decision to restart the facility to process the MIC just to get rid of the hazard.
As an emergency responder this chemical is what wakes me up at night. Its widely used and poorly understood how dangerous it is by the public.
I wondered when you were going to cover Bhopal. I design industrial safety courses; Bhopal is one of those man-made disasters we use a lot to illustrate how vital routine maintenance and safety training are. The fact that Union Carbide had a major phosgene (!!) leak two years earlier and did nothing to improve safety at the plant is still insane to me. As is the fact that no one has properly decommissioned the plant and cleaned it up.
If you haven’t already, look into the Napp Technologies explosion. It’s one that should be discussed more-another example of callous indifference by management before and after.
I am not surprised anymore that no one went to jail, no one was responsible, and no one found any kind of justice. Smfh.
That's what happens when the guilty party is the government themselves. They let themselves off the hook too.
I heard about this disaster in many cases: in school,from documental films like Seconds before disaster (by NG),many articles from news and internet and videos from RUclips.
Still can not believe how it was possible to create such a horrible disaster...
The SfD Bhopal episode is available here on YT. I highly recommend it.
Do you believe it's still happening today ?
@@Irilia_neko nope. The plant was closed down immediately after the disaster I think. Has been abandoned ever since.
@@mihirojha4475 not at this plan but this type of catastrophe happen regularly, because human life don't have value, and the rest is coverer by the insurance so why not continue like that, and you get a free new factory with no investment this is great
@@Irilia_neko no actually, anything at this large a scale hasn't happen since (thankfully). However, aside from North America and Europe, most of the world doesn't quite have the same level of safety restrictions on anything due to cost cutting and attracting foreign investors. Which is sad really. Cost cutting is good, but it should never come at the cost of safety.
I periodically write safety articles for my company's newsletter, and have been wanting to write about this incident for some time. I submitted an article today and cited this video as a source, as well as recommended it for further information along with a few other videos. Thanks for all the great work.
Indian here. This disaster was in my Political Science textbook in 9th grade but we were never told about what exactly took place in this tragedy as this chapter was removed from our syllabus due to being "a sensitive topic" (I agree with that, but it's kind of important to tell children on how human error costs irreversible damages right? Ignorance is bliss, I guess).
I read the chapter anyway, out of morbid curiosity, and the sickening feeling in my gut that I had afterwards didn't leave me for quite some time.
I can guarantee that most people my age don't know about this incident, unfortunate as that is.
You never really think that this kind of horror could happen near you or to you, until you read accounts of such happenings.
What happened at the Union Carbide Limited of India chemical plant would be a sensitive topic for Indians because it was an Indian owned and operated company. They only licensed formulas from Union Carbide Corporation and tried their best to be confused with them too. It was also an act of sabotage. It wasn't an accident. Someone at the plant intentionally put water into that tank.
I remember this happening when I was a teenager and the news stories every day for months was horrific. I can’t imagine how many people dying at once can affect a region. Terrible tragedy! I believe our family was one of those that sent donations to the victims through some organization set up to give aid.
Methyl = not good
Cyan = not good
And thus ends our comprehensive course in being more mindful than Union Carbide.
On all levels that matter, this was a worse industrial disaster than Chernobyl. Take this with a grain of salt, but apparently infection rates and/or severity of symptoms from COVID are higher in Bhopal. Can’t possibly imagine why.
I don't know if that COVID 'fact' about Bhopal is true though. What I do know is that many folks who weren't affected one bit by the disaster continue gulping down the compensation money rewarded by the government annually.
Your statement “methyl = not good” is not really correct. For instance, methylbenzene (toluene) is considerably less dangerous than benzene. Even “cyan = not good” is not always true. For instance ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian Blue) is a dark blue pigment and can also be used medicinally to help with cases of heavy metal poisoning.
On the other hand, methyl isocyanate is not a compound that should have been stored on site in large quantities. It should have been used as soon as it was synthesised, like phosgene usually is. This was a serious design failure, prioritising perceived operability over safety.
Considering that the survivors of the disaster would have been exposed to the poison gas initially, continuous exposure to the residual effects, and then their children would be growing up in the same poisoned environment, that's not surprising. FH didn't really mention it here, but I saw in another documentary that the rate of birth defects and other major health effects are higher in Bhopal than comparative areas. I'm pretty sure if it was in the US, it could be considered a superfund site.
The methyl group is a common structural unit in organic chemistry. 5-methyluracil makes your DNA...
Cyan is a color. Cyanobacteria worked 2 billion years to make oxygen for the world...
Nature is not bad, problems seem to arise when humans get greedy.
Respiratory damage increases risk of infection, unfortunately.
Horrible horrible injustice. I remember this growing up and these were kids when I was a kid.. It gets under your skin in a different way - like it could have been you. And since they never got any real justice, it could just as easily happen again.
I've been watching this channel for about a year now.
I've learned so much about negligence and greed have cost so much to people who are by all accounts innocent and had no power to stop these tragedies.
I really feel these videos should be used as a basis for lessons plans at schools.
Since the real horror is how most of these stories aren't known to most people and so some of these events are almost destine to repeat in some way unfortunately due to that fact.
Oh wow. This incident actually gets specifically mentioned by name in our annual safety training at work. It was very interesting to see a more in depth look at this. Thank you for uploading!
Interesting to see one of your videos which I already know the story of. Then again we all know how these stories go anyway, whether we’ve heard the specifics or not. Greed, corruption, and a blatant disregard for the lives of people they believe won’t be able to complain. Tragic and senseless.
As I recall, there is still some controversy over the cause of the incident. Namely the water getting getting into the tank.
The company claims employee sabotage by a rough employee, while India claims it was purely an industrial accident caused by the plant's neglect.
The main crux of the argument being there is no direct water pathway into the tank, and India was never able to recreate such an accidental condition.
That said, even if this was caused by employee sabotage, the gross negligence of the plant is what turned this from a small chemical leak situation, into a catastrophic disaster.
if you read the research paper submitted to both the US an Indian courts, the german investigators refused the sabotage claim. Dow chemicals ( Parent of Union Carbide) also some what backtracked on the claim.
I hope one day, you'll cover the 2021 eruption of Mt. Nyiragongo, one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. While there have been deadlier eruptions in the past, what is sad about this one is that corrupt actions within the volcano observatory made warning the people living in the vicinity very difficult.
Well done. I remember when this happened. Absolutely horrific example of exploitation of a lower economic population.
as much as I know about this disaster- even covered it in my college white collar crimes class- and again in my environmental science class and again in my ecology class- I'm still flabbergasted at the pure disregard for human life. And the fact profits are by far more important than safety, the local ecological systems and just life in general.
How union carbide can value life so low with the compensation?
It was their plant and they neglected it.
Blame and responsibility can easily be subcontracted out to other companies and countries, thanks to globalisation
It was Union Carbide Limited of India Not Union Carbide Corporation. That plant in Bhopal was 100% Indian owned and operated. Obviously. But the Indian government was involved so of course they tried to pin it all on a US corporation. Duh! And dopes like you fell for it. Congratulations!
I've been watching several of your videos today and I just wanna thank you for the way you talk : not too fast, words are well articulated, it makes it really easy to understand for foreigns like me, thank you for that!
Absolutely insane... I couldn't believe the things I was hearing as you said them. The sheer negligence... sickening.
The US Chemical Safety Board (USCSB) did a fantastic video on the impact of Bhopal across industries internationally, it gives some fascinating insight. Their RUclips channel in general is a great resource for anyone interested in the scientific and legal side of these kinds of accidents.
I have never in my life heard about this. This was MASSIVE and still affecting those poor people yet I've never heard about it?! So crazy.
Isn't that crazy? I didn't know about it until my Desi in-laws told me some years ago.
Same!
This story angers me beyond belief. It’s pretty much the worst industrial disaster of all time, but I feel like it’s not discussed enough (I had a very good history and social studies education, but I didn’t learn about this disaster until college). I’m not sure if discussing it more would help get compensation to the victims, but it seems like an important thing to discuss in school. Also, I read a book called Animal’s People by Indra Sinha that is based on the city of Bhopal and the aftermath of the disaster. I recommend it if you like fiction, but warning that it’s gross at times
Oh boy, a video involving Union Carbide. This won't be baffling or frustrating at all.
I have two comments on this:
1 (the good): this disaster started a chain of events leading directly to the creation of the United States Chemical Safety and hazard investigation Board (USCSB), which continues to investigate chemical accidents in the US and advise OSHA on chemical and process safety measures to this day. (Anyone interested should check out their RUclips channel, they release great animations of case studies about twice per year)
2 (the conspiracy): take this with a grain of salt, because it's something I half-remember with no source to back me up. I remember reading something that said that after Union Carbide reached a settlement with the Indian government, evidence was discovered that the Indian government was hiding that implicated that the original water leak was not an accident. This evidence implies that a disgruntled worker intentionally introduced water into the MEC tank. If true, does this free UC of responsibility? No. The safety systems that should have contained this still failed, and they still failed to notify authorities in time. But if it was sabotage instead of negligence, the Indian Government wouldn't have gotten as big of a settlement.
While I'm not really a fan of our government, I'd say that conspiracy theories don't help anyone.
Most conspiracies that place blame on individuals, and attempt to lessen the blame on corporations or governments, stem from the corporations or governments themselves.
My partner was a young girl in Bhopal when this disaster happened. She saw people collapsing and dying in the street, but luckily she was far enough from the plant and also high enough (on a 3rd floor) that meant that the heavy vapours had little effect on people above ground level.
I've told so many people about this and NOBODY'S ever heard of it!
Well done news for doing a brilliant job as always
I've heard and have seen videos of disasters involving negligence, human loss or permanent damage to their lifes, legal battles that last for decades or are still ongoing... But this one... It makes my blood boil in rage.
Hundreds of thousands affected how have I never heard of this before
Probably because you are younger than about 48. I remember it well, it was all over the news.
I'm guessing he's heard of Chernobyl though!
One of the main reasons is that as it was an American company that was responsible, it doesn't get repeated as much.
Fascinating Horror, best documentaries on RUclips and beyond. Thank for the hard work you put into these videos...
The new short intro, right at the beginning, is SO MUCH BETTER than what it was before. Thank you!
I appreciate you adding in sources to your videos. Very good work!
First read about Bhopal when I was in intermediate (middle school/junior high). Tends to be a thing if it's a foreign chemical company and there's a disaster, they keep on dragging it on for as long as they possibly can. Also first read about Chernobyl, the MGM Hotel fire etc about the same time. I tend to have an interest in these things.
So, the government with a stake in the company is the sole prosecutor of that company.
My thoughts exactly. It's despicable.
Implications of conflict of interest is egregious and totally based in fact.. redacted.
I knew this one would have no happy ending. I've heard other reputable channels cover this subject and it still always shocks and disgusts me how corporate greed and gross negligence has allowed this to happen. Worse yet, that the crisis is still unresolved. Thank you as always for respectfully covering these subjects!
I’ve been waiting for this one since before your channel existed. Always hoped you’d cover it. Thank you!
How the Yes Men parodied this in December 2004 by pretending to represent Union Carbide on BBC News and say that they would compensate the victims of Bhopal. Oh how I wish corporations were actually like that in real life.
Oh if only, what a world that would be.
So they spoke with Indian accents? Because Union Carbide Limited of India was an Indian owned company.
"This is gonna become a huge catastophy!"
"Oh yes, but first; tea."
India ☕
The old saying: "Profits are privatized, loss are socialized"
I’ve been waiting for you to cover this one, job well done!
Did anyone notice how quickly the Indian Government started covering their own blame? The plant was in their jurisidiction. Union Carbide didn't do as much to the plant as you may think. It was more on the Government, but they quickly began fighting Union Carbide and trying to pin all the blame on them.
The thing is, is that Union Carbide was making budget cuts, sure. But the Indian Government usually had significant leeway as an investor as to how the plant was run. This happened because an unskilled worker (not hired by Union Carbide, but by the plant itself, under jurisdiction of the Indian gov.) did something stupid that was entirely avoidable but sadly, the worker inherently wasn't trained enough. And that isn't safety training, that should be training in general.
The Government knew about the problems, but chose not to pursue them. I would wager that they knew that this sort of accident could happen. But they didn't act because the plant was still a major source of jobs in that area, and they didn't want to push Union Carbide any closer to selling off the plant. But then, Heaven forbid that that accident that the Government knew could happen actually did and suddenly everyone blames the American corporation who wasn't as hands-on with their foreign investments as you may think.
Just know that sometimes governments will gladly put profit before people, even if it is veiled in the national interest of decent jobs.
I would also like to point out that both sides are at fault. It just saddens me that instead of actually doing anything to fix it, the Indian Government played the blame game and tried to escape any and all blame from the outset.
thank you for covering this! It's so sad to me that this is so relatively unknown (compared to Chernobyl) in the west when it's literally the worst industrial accident ever...like this isn't India's less intense Chernobyl, Chernobyl is the Soviet's less intense Bhopal. And I don't know why we don't seem to care in the West, but it should be the most talked about industrial disaster in history, not largely unknown.
The sad reality is that it's less known about because the victims were poor and non-white. Like Union Carbide/DOW's attitude, the Western world regards such people as expendable for the economic interests of Americans and Europeans, something that still happens on a massive but less visibly catastrophic scale to this day. Another factor is that people tend to find radiation more frightening than chemicals, regardless of which is actually more dangerous, so there's a lot more public awareness of Chernobyl.
Good. I always say that this disaster never gets the coverage it deserves given its magnitude and the way Union Carbide "handled" the aftermath.
This disaster needs to be as well known as Chernobyl or the Boxing Day tsunami.
When I got to know of your channel last year I always wondered how would you cover this disaster.
This is exactly how I wanted it to be, thank you for this.
Semi related. Bayer CropScience thought hey, let's keep an above ground storage tank of MIC near equipment that's potentially hazardous.
Equipment detonated due to safety issues and if a chunk of metal had taken a slightly, slightly different path, then we'd have had Bhopal 2.0 in West Virginia
The US CSB has a great video on it as well, it took that disaster, not Bhopal, to force Bayer to remove the tank. Also look into the history of Bayer too if you want a rabbit hole to go down
EDIT: A quick Google shows that Dec 1984 wasn't the first release either. It's been stated even if the flare tower and water systems had been operational they were too wea and slow to eep up with the rate of release as well
Shout out to fellow USCSB fans!
Shout back atcha; I just thought I was weird. Lol!
@@RICDirector me too but I've since come to terms with the fact that highly professional, thorough accident investigation is satisfying. I'm comforted by the fact that such smart people undertake such endeavors to make the world safer for all of us. #notallheroeswearcapes
I remember when this disaster took place; at the time it amazed me that so many could have been killed. Even more amazing is that the site still hasn't been cleaned up.
What amazes me is that the people responsible weren't killed. If someone did this to my community I would be coming for them and wouldn't stop.
Great vid FH. I've seen others cover this Gas Leak, thanks for offering your take on it. RIP to the fallen and sympathies for those still suffering.
I'm a big fan & have watched all of your videos. This is one of your best ones. Thank you for calling out the perpetrators & calling the situation for what it actually is!
"Hey boss, we found the source of that toxic gas leak should we do anything?"
"Don't worry boys, it can wait until after our tea break"
Being as one of the crew had did the sabotage the rest probably didn't care either. This video claims a leaky valve caused it but there was no water pipe leading to any of those tanks. So that theory is physically impossible. Yeah there's a lot more to this story than anyone's letting on.
@@1pcfredImagine sucking the D of big corpo. There was water piping around the storage region, the pipings failed, that conspiracy of yours is total bull peddled by the those responsible to divert blame.
I remember hearing about this when I was a kid. It sucks that they still endure the effects of it so many years later. It’s like the area was hit with a chemical warfare WMD.
I was trying to find out why your channel appears way less than it did before.. I've watched all your content. Thanks for all the entertainment, look forward to more!
Bro..your channel is amazing...I've literally been watching for the past 1.5 hrs and am enthralled....props to you and your team...great content and amazing delivery.
Respect
Let's acknowkedge that you titled the video "The *Union Carbide* Gas Leak" instead of 'the Bhopal Disaster' as everyone else does. Holding the company responsible should be first on the agenda. You're one of the rare instances I've seen of a popular media source titling it in this way, thank you.
This story came to mind as the Deepwater Horizon accident was happening and there were calls, rightly, for BP to pay huge compensation to those affected. The Bhopal survivors were royally shafted by Union Carbide, and nobody cared enough to stop it happening.
Union Carbide Corporation did not own that plant. The Indian government did. UCC only licensed them formulas. Besides that Union Carbide Limited of India was a 100% Indian owned and operated company. The day it happened the president of Union Carbide Corporation had never even heard of that plant's existence.
I love your channel! Your videos actually relax me after a long night at work....keep the great content coming!
Thank you for taking my advice & doing this accident. You did a great job!
Dang I'm here early! Thank you so much for these videos. They're a great watch and you have a really great narration voice! I've fallen asleep to your videos on shuffle many times. Keep it up!! 💙
It was in India, enough said......
Same company had a gas leak in West Virginia in 1985. Nobody died but many people were treated at hospitals for sickness.
Kudos for the research into these videos. Watched the Seconds to Disaster on this incident and also read up on it online, but still learned things I didn’t know in this video. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm always prepared to be utterly furious when you upload...I always expect the assholes who cause the most carnage to get away scott free due to the shitty "justice" systems around the world, and how they don't apply to the rich and powerful.
Alas, yet another amazing upload. Thank you for bringing attention to these terrie disasters.
More like Indians are just bad at doling out justice to their own.
I've watched all the videos on this channel, and this is the first one I can remember that had no redemptive points at the end. Usually the last 30 seconds or so is about how safety standards or designs have been improved and how people were held accountable, but not here. The things western corporations have gotten away with, and continue to get away with, in developing countries is mind-boggling.
Very good but you missed 2 important points: 1 after a survey of the plant repairs were identified as well as safety improvement but were not done in Bhopal but they were to the US plant; 2 Union Carbide fought through the courts to avoid responsibility and delayed continuously paying the compensation, not sure if they have still made full payment
Dude you're a legend I can't get enough of your videos.. its hard to believe that you don't have a million subscribers yet