Carbide Files Counterclaim on Liability in Gas Disaster

Union Carbide Corp. today filed its promised counterclaim against the Indian and Madhya Pradesh state governments, contending that they should bear some liability for the December, 1984, Bhopal gas leak disaster.

The counterclaim was filed in Bhopal District Court as part of the multinational firm’s formal reply to a suit brought Oct. 5 by New Delhi charging that the company’s negligence caused the leak that killed more than 2,000 people and injured 200,000 others.

The federal government is seeking $3 billion in damages from Union Carbide for about 500,000 people it says were affected in some way by the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Union Carbide notified the federal and state administrations on Nov. 17 that it would bring the counterclaim.

In the notification--and reiterated in the document filed today--the company said the Dec. 3, 1984, leak of methyl isocyanate resulted from sabotage by disgruntled employees.

The company also reiterated in its counterclaim charges that the governments of India and Madhya Pradesh state, of which Bhopal is the capital, bore some liability for the disaster.