On the night of December 2 to 3, 1984, the worst chemical explosion in history occurred in the factory of an American multinational in Bhopal, India. The disaster has claimed at least 20,000 lives over the years. The toxic waste that remained on site and which poisoned the premises was finally moved by the authorities. Activists, however, denounce a very insufficient clean-up operation.
With our correspondent in Bangalore, Como Bastin
337 tonnes of waste are being moved, starting this Thursday, January 2, in trucks in Inde. A convoy equipped with “ largest safety protocol ever observed in industrial waste », declare the local authorities. They will be transported to a site where they will be cremated, 225 kilometers away.
This waste came from a leak of methyl isocyanate, an ultra-lethal gas, on the night of December 2 to 3, 1984. Despite catastrophic health consequencesthe incriminated American multinational only paid compensation considered derisory, and the polluting site had since been abandoned in the heart of Bhopal, where more than 2 million inhabitants live.
Also readIndia: 40 years later, the Bhopal chemical disaster continues in the present
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