– CBS World News Roundup – December 3, 1984 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Hearing this newscast today, you would think the Cyanide gas leak at the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal India was not serious. But the fact was, during the morning of December 3rd 1984 the news was only starting to come to light.
The leak of toxic gas from the plant had taken place during the early morning hours and news of the disaster was slow in coming. Initial filed reports said the death toll was around 200, but was expected to climb dramatically as hospitals in the area were receiving an overwhelming number of emergency cases and widespread panic had taken place throughout the city.
In the end, the Bhopal disaster claimed some 3,787 lives and left over 500,000 in various states of injury and long-term side-effects. 30 years later, Bhopal is still reeling from the horrors of the incident and the side-effects have been transferred to generations now being born.
But at the time we didn’t know that. At the time we were getting bits and pieces of a story which, as presented on this edition of the CBS World News Roundup placed third.
Other news this day was of William Schroeder‘s mechanical heart and the successful operation which took place on November 25th. It was the second time the Jarvik-7 was used in place of a human heart. The Chicago Teacher’s Strike which was now being joined by other school employees for the second time in 15 months. Negotiations were underway, but the Board of Education was facing a $40 million deficit and couldn’t afford the teacher’s demands. And some 400,000 Chicago school kids were out of school.
And that’s a bit of what went on this December 3rd in 1984 as reported by the CBS World News Roundup.
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