The Bhopal methyl isocyanate leak, 1984
On the night of 2–3 December 1984, water entered storage tank 610 at Union Carbide's pesticide plant in Bhopal, triggering a runaway reaction that released roughly 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas over sleeping shantytowns next to the factory. Thousands died within days, hundreds of thousands were injured, and hospitals were overwhelmed by victims whose eyes and lungs had been burned. It became the defining case of an industrial disaster in a developing country caused by a multinational corporation.