From Sathyu’s Introduction to Bhopal for Young People
Most people living close the factory were very poor people. Their houses were made of mud and they had thatched roofs. When the poisonous gases leaked from the factory almost everybody in the neighbourhood communities was asleep and had no notion that they were surrounded by the gas cloud and that the gas was actually entering their houses through the rooves and holes in the walls. People got up coughing, choking, and their eyes burning. Most people thought that someone had set fire to a warehouse full of red chilli peppers. Not knowing any better many people ran out of their house screaming in pain as well as to warn others. Others opened their doors to find out about the commotion outside and clouds of deadly gas entered their houses.
