Indian chemicals disaster remembered 25 years on

Published on Sunday 15 November 2009 21:48

A REMEMBRANCE service was held outside a chemicals factory yesterday in memory of the victims of the Bhopal disaster in India.

Thousands of people died after gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal on 3 December, 1984.

Union Carbide was later acquired by Dow Chemicals, which recently also acquired the Rohm & Haas plant in Grangemouth.

Yesterday, about 20 activists gathered at the Grangemouth site to mark the approaching 25th anniversary of the tragedy and protest at the company's arrival in the town.

They laid a wreath and flowers at the gates.

International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal spokesman Dharmesh Shah, who travelled to the event from Bhopal, said: "Dow refuses to admit its liability despite the company being named by Indian courts. They got the assets of Union Carbide, they must also accept the liabilities."

Estimates of the immediate death toll from the Bhopal accident range from 3,787 to 10,000, with long-term estimates as high as 25,000 people.