Warren Anderson: Wanted For 20,000 Deaths at Bhopal

ROSA PRINCE / The Mirror (UK) 29aug02

A FUGITIVE boss wanted for the killing of up to 20,000 people in the Bhopal gas disaster has been tracked down by the Mirror.

Ex-Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, 80, has evaded the law for 18 years after jumping bail on charges of culpable homicide following the 1984 tragedy in India.

Today, he is living in a £680,000 US holiday home while 120,000 poverty-stricken Bhopal victims are ravaged by health problems and sackfuls of skulls bear testimony to the world's worst industrial disaster.

But time is running out. Yesterday an Indian court ruled Anderson must stand trial for homicide after rejecting a plea that the charges against him be reduced to rash negligence. Lawyers will apply for an arrest warrant to be given to US authorities to carry out. Anderson could be jailed for 10 years.

Confronted by the Mirror at his home in the exclusive Hamptons, outside New York, he was clearly discomfited.

Asked if he felt any responsibility for death and suffering on an awesome scale, he barked "No comment".

Anderson and wife Lillian spend the summer at Bridgetown in the Hamptons and the winter in Miami.

They live in a four-bedroom, four- bathroom house.

Membership of the local tennis club costs £1,750 a year.

It is a far cry from Bhopal where thousands of diseased and deformed victims still pay the price for Anderson's cost cutting.

The boss was chairman of Union Carbide whose pesticide plant in Madhya Pradesh used deadly methyl isocyanate - MIC.

Early on December 3, 1984, five tons of MIC leaked out killing 8,000 on the spot.

Thousands more died later and further thousands are still condemned to a life of unending suffering.

Anderson was later accused of cutting safety to save £30 a day. The crumbling factory still bleeds poison.

Amazingly the Indian government applied to reduce charges against Anderson.

It led to huge protests and claims that the country did not want to scare off investors.

But yesterday the bid was thrown out by a district judge. Bhopal lawyer Raj Punjwani said: "We won't rest until he's here. This is a good day for us."

Anderson retired from Union Carbide, which is now owned by Michigan-based Dow Chemicals, in 1986.

• Bhopal Medical Appeal