Bhopal disaster (28 photos)

Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. A reaction occurred with 42 tons of isocyanate methyl ester, the temperature and pressure rose so much that huge amounts of gas containing isocyanate methyl ester, phosgene, hydrogen cyanide and other chemicals began to escape into the air. A poisonous cloud passed through the neighboring territories, sleeping residents woke up from a feeling of heat in their throats and eyes. As a result, about 4,000 people died in the first hours alone. Over the next few years, the consequences nearly doubled that number to approximately 15,000. A quarter of a century later, thousands of people are still suffering from the consequences of the world's worst man-made disaster and environmental pollution. In 2001, the Union Carbide plant was bought by Dow Chemical, which says the lawsuit was resolved in 1989. The local government has taken responsibility for the cleanup, which is still ongoing.

A police officer points to a gas tank that leaked into the atmosphere in 1984 at the site of the former Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. 25 years after the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant killed thousands of people, toxic substances from the world's worst man-made disaster continue to have a detrimental effect on the people of Bhopal. The new generation is growing up weak and sick. The consequences of the disaster have only recently begun to affect a new generation, manifesting themselves visually. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

2. In this file photo from December 4, 1984, soldiers can be seen guarding the entrance to the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal after a deadly gas leak. Survivors of the world's worst man-made disaster were shocked to learn that the former plant, which killed thousands of people, was planned to open to visitors 25 years later. These plans never came to fruition. (BEDI/AFP/Getty Images)

3. In this photo from December 4, 1984, you see people who were blinded by a gas leak at a plant in Bhopal. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

4. Victims of the gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal on December 4, 1984 lost their sight. They wait outside for a doctor to examine them. (BEDI/AFP/Getty Images)

5. Abandoned machinery at the Union Carbide chemical plant, November 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

6. A gaping hole in a rusty container at the Union Carbide chemical plant on November 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

7. A security worker rides a bicycle past the remains of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, November 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

8. Abandoned bottles of chemicals lie on the floor of a building at the site of the abandoned Union Carbide chemical plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A boy can be seen in a hole in the wall trying to take a calf to pasture on the grounds of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, on November 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

10. Women fill containers with clean water in Bhopal, which was brought here because local water was contaminated during a gas leak at the Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Activists and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster hold placards outside the Dow Chemical office in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi on Thursday November 19, 2009. A subsidiary of the American chemical company Union Carbide was operating the plant at the time of the incident. For decades, survivors have fought to demolish the plant, but their efforts hit a snag when the Union Carbide plant was purchased by Dow Chemical Co. in 2001. The company claims that it is not responsible for the demolition of the plant and liquidation of the consequences of the disaster. (Staffing/Manish Swarup)

Activists from a group of Bhopal disaster survivors burn an effigy during a protest against Union Carbide Corp ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1984 disaster in the city of Bhopal on November 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Raj Patidar)

Activists and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal disaster, which killed and injured thousands, protest against Dow Chemical outside its Noida office on the outskirts of New Delhi on Thursday November 19, 2009. (Staffing/Manish Swarup)

14. A police officer inspects the abandoned Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

15. People walk past a statue of a mother holding a dead child in her arms in Bhopal on November 18, 2009. Residents of the city look with bitterness towards the old Union Carbide plant, where a gas leak occurred on the morning of December 3, 1984, killing thousands of people in an instant. Residents say each anniversary is another year of physical and psychological trauma, compounded by government and corporate negligence. (RAVENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)

16. Nafisa Bee - coordinator of the Chingari Trust clinic - carries 8-year-old Annan in her arms on November 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. 25 years after a gas leak killed thousands of innocent people, the effects of the world's worst man-made disaster continue to harm the people of Bhopal. Annan suffers from cerebral palsy and is being treated at the Chingari Trust. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

17. Mentally disabled 10-year-old Nawab Mian, a victim of the 1984 disaster, plays with a chicken near the abandoned Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

18. Apeksha Malviya eats at home in Bhopal, India, November 22, 2009. 25 years after the man-made disaster, many mothers gave birth to physically or mentally disabled children. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

19. Children reflect in contaminated groundwater near the abandoned Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

20. In this photo taken on November 21, 2009, the photographer captured a cow. She was found alone in a government hospital set up for victims of a gas leak at a plant in Bhopal, India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

21. People carry containers of water collected from the former Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, November 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

22. Women complaining of ailments related to the Bhopal gas leak disaster wait in line to see a doctor at a non-governmental organization clinic in Bhopal, India, November 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Raziq pronounces words during an exercise with speech therapist Prem Patel at the Chingari Trust rehabilitation clinic on November 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

24. Hira Lal, who has lost the ability to move and hear, lies on a makeshift bed outside his hut in Bhopal, India, April 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

25. Children play outside their homes near the Union Carbide plant on November 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

26. A man jumps from the perimeter wall at the Union Carbide plant on November 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

27. A physiotherapist holds the leg of a 7-year-old child at a non-governmental organization clinic for victims of a man-made disaster in Bhopal, India, November 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

28. A girl stands next to a water tower near her home near the Union Carbide plant on November 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)