Bhopal Gas Leak: Survivors Recount Horrors of India's Worst Industrial Disaster

In this podcast, two women survivors recount the horrors of the December night in Bhopal.

Two survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy recount the horror of the night when the tragedy struck.

(Image: Kamran Akhtar/ The Quint)

Host, Producer, Sound Designer: Fabeha Syed
Guests:
Leela Bai, Bhopal Gas Disaster Survivor
Shamshad Bi, Bhopal Gas Disaster Survivor
Balkrishna Namdeo, Activist, Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogee Sangharsh Morcha.
Tim Edwards, Executive Trustee, Bhopal Medical Appeal
Syed Tabish Ali, Information Officer, Bhopal Medical Appeal
Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

On the night of 2 December 1984, tonnes of poisonous gas leaked from a factory that made pesticides. It not only killed thousands of people but continues to affect a larger part of Bhopal's population. Leela Bai, who was just a 26-year-old mother of five at the time when the disaster happened, lost her son that night. She later lost another son due to gas poisoning. Her husband, after a few years, died of a similar condition. She now lives off a meager pension that hardly makes ends meet.

Unfortunately, Leela Bai's family shares this fate with thousands of others who continue to battle with health conditions as a consequence of a disaster that took place more than three decades ago.

In this episode, two survivors of Bhopal Gas Tragedy recount the horror of that night and tell us where they were, when a gas leak from a pesticide plant changed the fate of Bhopal.

We also speak with activists who explain the different battles faced by the survivors, even after these many years.

Tune in.

(This podcast was first published on 4 February 2021. It has been reposted from The Quint's archives to mark the anniversary of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.)