Bhopal marks 25 years since gas leak devastation

Its been 25 years as of today that the horrific incident of Bhopal Gas tragedy that struck India, where thousands of people lost lost their lives. Residents of the Indian city of Bhopal are marking 25 years since a devastating gas leak killed thousands of people and sickened many more.

The incident, in the early hours of 3 December 1984, was the worst industrial accident in history.  Forty tons of a deadly toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from a factory run by US-owned Union Carbide and settled over slums around the plant.

Campaigners say the effects of the gas continue to this day.

Residents of the city have held a week of commemoration events in the lead-up to the anniversary.  Late on Wednesday, crowds gathered for a candle-lit rally at a memorial statue of a mother and child outside the plant.

The factory is now abandoned, but campaigners say it is still leaking toxins into groundwater and soil, affecting surrounding areas.

The BBC took a sample of water from a hand pump in constant use just north of the plant and had it tested in the UK. It contained nearly 1,000 times the World Health Organisation's recommended maximum amount of carbon tetrachloride, a pollutant known to cause cancer and liver damage.

Campaigners also say that Bhopal has an unusually high incidence of children with birth defects and growth deficiency, as well as cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. This is seen not only among survivors of the gas but among generations born much later, they say.

No-one has ever stood trial over what happened at Bhopal. Twenty years ago Union Carbide paid $470m (£282m) in compensation to the Indian government. Dow Chemicals, which bought the company in 1999, says this settlement resolved all existing and future claims against the company.

The state government of Madhya Pradesh is now responsible for the site and earlier this week Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told the BBC that the water supply around the plant was safe.