OTHER NEWS - July 20, 1992

First Bhopal Gas Tragedy Trial Opens: A court in Bhopal, India, opened a manslaughter trial against nine officials of Union Carbide India Ltd., marking the start of the first criminal case in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. At least 4,000 people were killed when methyl isocyanate gas leaked on Dec. 2-3 of that year from a pesticide factory run by Union Carbide India Ltd., a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp. The government had initially sued Union Carbide for $3 billion in damages but reached an agreement in 1989 to accept $470 million and absolve the company of criminal liability. However, India’s Supreme Court last fall struck down the immunity clause of the agreement and ordered criminal cases to be reopened.