The Bhopal disaster occurred on December 2-3, 1984, in Bhopal, India, when a gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide plant released a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate. This incident exposed over 500,000 people to harmful chemicals, leading to immediate health crises and long-term health effects for many residents. The disaster resulted in thousands of deaths and left many survivors with chronic illnesses. It is considered one of the world's worst industrial disasters, prompting changes in safety regulations and emergency response protocols in the chemical industry to prevent similar incidents in the future.