Eight jailed over India gas disaster
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
A court in the Indian city of Bhopal has sentenced eight people to two years each in jail over a gas plant leak that killed thousands of people in 1984, reports BBC.
The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant - the world's worst industrial accident.
The eight Indians, all former plant employees, were convicted of 'death by negligence'. One had already died - the others are expected to appeal.
Campaigners say the court verdict is too little too late.
Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal on December 3, 1984.
The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant - the world's worst industrial accident.
The eight Indians, all former plant employees, were convicted of 'death by negligence'. One had already died - the others are expected to appeal.
Campaigners say the court verdict is too little too late.
Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal on December 3, 1984.