3 December
'We were sleeping peacefully that night. I got up to find the children vomiting all over. First I wondered whether it was something they had for dinner. Then I too started vomiting. Soon all of us, my husband and me carrying the children were running . . . My three year old daughter Nazma had swelled up so much like she would burst.'
December 2009
Razia Bee's testimony is one person's account of what happened when toxic gases leaked from Union Carbide's chemical factory near Bhopal, in India, on 3 December 1984. Around 3,000 people died in the days following the leak, with many tens of thousands more suffering ill effects.
Campaigners estimate that as many as 20,000 people ultimately died from exposure to the poisonous gases. The company, now part of Dow Chemical, has been bitterly criticised for making woefully inadequate compensation payments.
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
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