Bhopal: Senior Congress Arjun Singh, who was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh when the Bhopal gas leak happened, has broken his silence on the tragedy.
Speaking to a Hindi weekly Chauthi Duniya, Singh has called media reports of helping former Union carbide CEO Warren Anderson escape the country as untrue. Singh said that his priority at that time was to save lives and help those affected by the deadly methyl isocyanate gas that leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killing at least 15,000 people on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Singh said that was disturbed by reports accusing him of facilitating Anderson's escape after the world's worst industrial disaster in Bhopal.
However, the co-pilot of the Madhya Pradesh government plane which was used to fly Anderson from Bhopal to Delhi said the order to take the former Union Carbide CEO from Bhopal to Delhi came from the very top.
"It was the government of Madhya Pradesh order to fly out Anderson from Bhopal. Captain Ashish Sodhi got the clearance from ATC. Anderson came to airport with the collector and the SP and we boarded the plane and took off for Delhi. He was alone when we flew him to Delhi. One person came in a private car at the Delhi airport to receive Anderson. I was told to drop him to Delhi and come back. I asked for a VIP car from the airport, he boarded the aircraft along with me. I regret flying him," said captain Sayyed Hassan Ali.
CNN-IBN has accessed a video which was shot on 7 December 1984 and shows Anderson being driven to the Bhopal airport. The video shows Anderson being taken to a waiting plane at the Bhopal airport in a blue Ambassador car with a red beacon flashing on its top.
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