Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Around half a million people were exposed to toxic fumes in the central Indian city of Bhopal on the night of December 2 to 3, 1984. Nearly 4,000 people died in the immediate aftermath, and around 10,000 subsequent deaths have been blamed on the disaster.In this photo is Rampyari Bai, 90 -- one of the disaster's oldest survivors. That night, fumes killed her daughter-in-law and unborn grandchild. Bai later developed cancer and is still fighting for compensation. "I will not leave this task of chasing governments," she said. "Till my last breath, I will keep fighting."
This photo is part of a series of images from photographer Raghu Rai, one of the first on the scene after the gas leak from Union Carbide's Bhopal pesticide plant. Thirty years later, Amnesty International asked him to return to photograph survivors.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Shahzadi Bi and her husband were living near the old Union Carbide factory on the night of the gas leak. "I was vomiting, had severe chest pain and eye irritation," she said. She said her husband's heart is irreparably damaged and their two children suffer chest pain. Photographer Raghu Rai was working for India Today when his editor woke him with news of the leak and asked him to rush to the scene. "We ran towards the hospitals, looking for dead bodies. Afterwards I would feel guilty about that, but in the moment there was no time to think, just shoot," he said.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Safreen Khan stands next to a statue erected in memory of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in J P Naga. That night, her family thought her mother had died. She was taken away with the dead but brought back home when someone noticed she was still breathing.Photographer Raghu Rai said: "When we got to Hamidia hospital the chaos was overwhelming. I had never seen anything like it, it was as if a war had just ended or in the aftermath of an earthquake."
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Thirty years later, survivors are still demanding proper compensation. In September 2014, they chained themselves to the fence outside the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister's residence. Others staged a "die-in," draping themselves in sheets with the image of a dead child whose face became a symbol of the disaster.In 2010, an Indian court convicted seven top executives for their role in the disaster. They were sentenced to two years in prison and fined $2,000. Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Co., paid a $470 million settlement to India in 1989. Survivor groups claim they received an average of just $500 each. Dow Chemical says it holds no responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.
Photographer Raghu Rai said of covering the story over the years was "like knocking your head against a wall, like nobody cares, even the ministers. They used to ask me 'why do you dig up these skeletons, these people are dead and gone?' They didn't understand that those people who inhaled less gas and survived, they were the worst off, dying a slow death."
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Sathyu Sarangi went to Bhopal as a volunteer a day after the gas leak and never left. As a founding member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action and the Sambhavna Trust, he provides support to survivors. "The more awareness spreads on the continuing disaster in Bhopal, the more we will move towards achieving what we are still trying to achieve," he said.On the 25th anniversary of the disaster, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the disaster a "tragedy of neglect." "The enormity of that tragedy of neglect still gnaws at our collective conscience," he said.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
Patients attend the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, which provides free healthcare for gas leak survivors. Photographer Raghu Rai said: "People somehow managed to live their lives despite all the chaos and the problems. They have accepted it, but you can make out the withered fatigue on their faces," he said.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
ARCHIVE IMAGE: A man carries the body of his dead wife past the deserted Union Carbide factory. Photographer Raghu Rai said what struck him at the time was the silence -- "the silence of death." "As a journalist, you avoid getting emotionally or sentimentally involved, but I experienced a strong suffocating feeling the whole time. The fallout was so huge, so unbelievable," he said.
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
ARCHIVE IMAGE: Bodies lie near a communal grave ahead of a mass cremation. Photographer Raghu Rai recalled: "The sick were being brought in and the dead brought out, people were running everywhere. I went about taking pictures -- capturing everything and anything that came my way -- bloated bodies and dead animals lying on the road."
Bhopal gas tragedy, 30 years on —
ARCHIVE IMAGE: A view of Bhopal in 2002 including the Union Carbide factory.Photographer Raghu Rai said: "Now the factory is rotting and rusting, but all around it is fresh greenery, just amazingly green and colorful -- children are playing there and people are grazing their animals. Then you see a fine layer of powder and it looked so fresh, I reached to touch it. The guard stopped me. It shocked me that thirty years later, potentially dangerous materials remain untouched."
