Bhopal scenes like aftermath of chemical warfare: Raghu Rai
By IANSMonday, June 7, 2010
NEW DELHI - As the court Monday convicted eight people in the Bhopal gas tragedy case after more than 25 years, veteran photographer Raghu Rai recalled the scenes of the world’s worst industrial disaster as being similar to an aftermath of a chemical warfare.
“It was like an aftermath of a chemical warfare… you saw dead bodies lying everywhere, dead animals, bloated bodies, dead being brought… there was no end to it,” Rai said in an interview to a news channel.
Rai, known for his heart rending photographs of the tragedy, said that the doctors did not know how to treat the victims.
“So many sick people coming in and the worst thing was that none of the doctors knew what treatment to give. Nobody announced the antidote for this poisonous gas and till today in the government analysis nothing has been revealed,” he said.
“Everything was so chaotic and nobody knew what to do. The doctors were giving normal treatment but still people were dying,” he added.
The recipient of Padma Shri award said nobody knew what exactly the gas was.
“We did not know what exactly happened and how it happened? What kind of a gas it was? We were told that this gas when mixed with water or air, multiplies and changes the whole make up of the gas,” he said.
“It was kind of a silence of death all over where nobody talked to anybody… you saw death everywhere,” he added.
