India, Carbide Agree on $500 Million Damages for Bhopal
The government and Union Carbide Corp. agreed that the U.S. company will pay $500 million in compensation to the survivors of the December, 1984, gas leak that killed nearly 3,000 people, sources close to the case said today.
The sources said the sum will be paid out over a period of 10 years, but the out-of-court settlement will not be announced until next month to give time for details to be worked out.
The Bhopal accident Dec. 3, 1984, was the world’s deadliest chemical disaster, blamed for 2,889 deaths and more than 270,000 injuries. Methyl isocyanate gas escaped through a ruptured valve, killing area residents as they slept.
The settlement was reached in negotiations begun after U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan of New York ruled May 12, 1986, that lawsuits filed against Union Carbide should be settled in Indian courts.
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