BHOPAL, India (AlertNet) - It's not difficult to spot the site of one of the world's worst chemical disasters.
Even after 25 years, the anger of those affected by the toxic gas leak which killed thousands in the Indian city of Bhopal is evident.
The perimeter wall surrounding the former Union Carbide pesticide factory has been painted with skulls calling the company "killers" and slogans demanding justice for the thousands who say they continue to suffer.
The iron gates of the derelict factory remain closed to the outside world, except for a handful of curious journalists, researchers and activists who can gain permission from authorities to enter.
Security guards roam the property, escorting the few visitors around the 89-acre site where the vegetation is overgrown and administrative buildings are in ruins.
The large vessels, interconnected by a multitude of pipes which once carried the chemical slurries used to make the pesticides such as Carbaryl, better known by its trade name Sevin, have rusted over the years.
People from the surrounding slums climb through gaps in the wall and wander in and out of the site forging for firewood.
It was here in the early hours of December 3, 1984, that around 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked into the atmosphere, killing up to 8,000 people in the immediate aftermath, according to activists.
Since the tragedy, activists say, a total of 25,000 people who were exposed to gas have died due to the ill-effects of MIC and a further 100,000 people continue to suffer illnesses such as cancer, blindness, respiratory problems and children born to affected women have birth defects.
The infamous "tank 610", which held the deadly MIC lies redundant at the side of a path.
JUST "RUBBISH"?
However, one building stands alone -- a warehouse where 340 tonnes of highly toxic chemical waste have been stored for the last 25 years.
Hidden amidst the overgrown vegetation, its windows have been sealed with bricks and the shutters of entrance padlocked.
Knowing the answer, I still ask the security guard escorting me if I can get inside.
He smiles and says : "There's nothing there, it's just rubbish."
But environmentalists say this "rubbish" is just a tiny portion of the toxic waste that Union Carbide left behind after authorities shutdown the plant after this horrendous disaster, which needed to be cleaned up.
On the outskirts of the plant, lies a massive wasteland on the edge of Blue Moon Colony - a densely-populated slum, where families of up to eight live in one-room brick houses.
No one lives on the swampy wasteland, and no one from the slums ventures there unless it is to defecate.
"It is poisonous land -- we know what went on there years ago and we only go there when we need to," says 45-year-old Nasir Uddin who lives in Blue Moon Colony.
The site is littered with human excrement, but environmentalists and social activists say what is more concerning in the "invisible" waste underground.
Former employees of the Union Carbide say the company created a landfill site before the disaster and dumped thousands of tonnes of poisonous waste here in the 1970's before covering it up with soil.
Over the years, environmentalists claim, the toxic materials have seeped into the ground and contaminated the groundwater which is only source of drinking water for around 20,000 people from Bhopal's poorest communities.
People who have been drinking and bathing in this water for decades say it makes them sick and complain of health problems ranging from stomach pains, skin rashes and breathing difficulties.
"It smells foul," says 65-year-old Kasturba bai from another nearby slum. "You should try it, I'm sure it will make you sick."
I politely decline and return to my car.
I feel fortunate as I take a sip from my mineral water bottle and wonder whether water is the source of life ... or death here in the slums of Bhopal.
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