[chris]

In 1984, methyl isocyanate leaked from Union Carbide's plant in Bhopal, India. Estimates of the death toll range from 2,500 to 16,000.

The plant stored large quantities of the unstable, toxic intermediate chemical rather than immediately converting it into a more stable final product. Accounts also describe years of maintenance problems and nonfunctioning safety systems before the release.

The disaster is considered the worst industrial accident in recorded history.