World's worst industrial disaster remembered
Indian victims of the Bhopal gas disaster take part in a torch-lit procession to mark its 30th anniversary in Bhopal Dec. 2, 2014.
Protesters in the Indian city of Bhopal burned effigies representing Dow Chemical and displayed placards demanding justice as they marked the 30th anniversary of the world's deadliest industrial disaster.
Some held old black and white photographs of loved ones lost on the morning of Dec. 3, 1984, when a cloud of highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas spewed from a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and blew across the city.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
A Bhopal gas disaster survivor holds a placard during a protest rally in Bhopal Dec. 2, 2014.
The Bhopal industrial disaster killed about 4,000 people on the morning of Dec. 3, 1984. The death toll over the next few years rose to about 15,000, according to government estimates.
Thirty years later, many of those who were exposed to the gas have given birth to physically and mentally disabled children. For decades, survivors have been fighting to have the site cleaned up, but they say the efforts were slowed when Michigan-based Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Indian victims and relatives of those killed in the Bhopal gas disaster take part in a torch-lit procession to mark the disaster's 30th anniversary in Bhopal Dec. 2, 2014.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Indian residents and Bhopal gas disaster survivors set alight a Union Carbide banner as they commemorate the disaster's 30th anniversary in Bhopal Dec. 3, 2014.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Indian children play cricket inside the Union Carbide factory grounds in Bhopal Nov. 29, 2014.
When a cloud of highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas blew across Bhopal on the morning of Dec. 3, 1984, around 4,000 people were killed in the immediate aftermath. The death toll over the next few years rose to about 15,000, according to government estimates.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
An Indian resident feeds Umar, a second-generation victim of the Bhopal gas disaster, at the Chingari Trust, an organization working to help the second-generation victims of the disaster, near the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal Nov. 30, 2014.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Bhopal gas disaster survivor Chironjee Bai Thakur holds a photograph of her late husband, Maharja Singh, during a protest rally in Bhopal Dec. 2, 2014.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Women place posters along the walls of the closed-down Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, to mark the 15th anniversary of the world's worst industrial accident, Dec. 1, 1999.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Abandoned equipment and broken storage tanks are seen at the now-defunct Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal Nov. 28, 2014.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Bodies of victims of the Bhopal tragedy are lined up Dec. 17, 1984, in Bhopal.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
Relatives of victims of the Bhopal tragedy mourn Dec. 4, 1984.
The Bhopal disaster, 30 years later
A victim of the Bhopal tragedy holds his eye as he walks from the the Union Carbide pesticide factory that was the source of the leak Dec. 4, 1984.