SIXTH-FORM students at Acton High School last week marked the 30th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster.
On the evening of December 2, 1984, an accident at Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, led to the release of an enormous poisonous gas cloud which engulfed the city.
By morning an estimated 3,800 people were dead. The eventual toll according to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, a Brighton-based charity working on behalf of survivors, exceeded 25,000.
The tragedy did not stop there as legal disputes between the owners of the factory and the Indian government meant the site was never adequately decontaminated.
Drinking water in the area has been found to contain alarmingly high levels of toxins, and a second tragedy has unfolded as the people of Bhopal grew sick and gave birth to children with mental and physical defects.
Students resolved to raise money for the Sambhavna clinic, which provides free medical care to affected Bhopalis.
A combination of student and staff collections, cake sales, a football tournament and a Dress Down Friday raised £652.
Colin Toogood, from the Bhopal Medical Appeal, received a cheque from head boy David Ibrahim on behalf of the school.
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