BHOPAL, India (AP) -- The Bhopal industrial disaster killed about 4,000 people in the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984. A few days later the death toll had doubled. Over the next few years, the lingering affects of the poison nearly doubled the toll again, to about 15,000, according to government estimates. Local activists say the real numbers are almost twice that. A quarter-century later, thousands like are still grappling with the affects of exposure to the deadly gas as it winds its way through generations not even born when the disaster struck. Rights groups say toxic waste from the plant still contaminates the soil and groundwater in nearby neighborhoods. (23 images)
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Shyam Babu, 10, looks on as he plays outside his home near the Union Carbide factory on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Shyam suffers from cerebral palsy believed to be from water contamination. Twenty-five years after an explosion causing a mass gas leak, in the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killed at least eight thousand people, toxic material from the biggest industrial disaster in history continues to affect Bhopalis. A new generation is growing up sick, disabled and struggling for justice. The effects of the disaster on the health of generations to come, both through genetics, transferred from gas victims to their children and through the ongoing severe contamination, caused by the Union Carbide factory, has only started to develop visible forms recently. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Ground water, believed to be contaminated, is seen near the Union Carbide factory on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Children are reflected in ground water, believed to be contaminated, near the site of the deserted Union Carbide factory on Nov. 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Fifteen-year-old Sachin Kumar washes himself at his home located in a slum near the site of the deserted Union Carbide factory on November 30, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Sachin had been receiving physical therapy treatment and education from the Chingari Trust rehabilitation Centre for victims of the 1984 gas tragedy, for which he has been registered for. However, Sachin's health has turned for the worse and his legs, now covered with open sores, restrict him from travelling to the major road where the Chingari Trust bus can pick him up for daily treatment. The oldest of four, Sachin spends his days playing board games with his friends and a rare game of cricket, which he sees as the fulfillment of his dreams of becoming a professional cricket player. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Sidesh Kumar, 10, who suffers from epilepsy, is comforted by Nafiza Bee co-ordinator of the Chingari Trust clinic on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Suraj Raghuwanshi, 12, is comforted as he receives care at the Chingari Trust clinic on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Shyam Babu, 10, plays at his home near the Union Carbide factory on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Razik pronounces words during a rehabilitation exercise with speech therapist Prem Patel at the Chingari Trust Rehabilitation clinic on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
A physiotherapist holds the leg of a seven-year-old child at a clinic run by a non-governmental organization that caters to victims of the gas tragedy in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Khushi Verma, right, and Apeksha Malviya, left, receive physiotherapy at a non-governmental organization in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Khushi Verma, right, and Apeksha Malviya are given physiotherapy at a non-governmental organization in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Vikas, right, and his brother Aman, both mentally challenged, wait at a non-governmental organization that conducts therapy sessions for the gas affected in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Children born with mental and physical disabilities are seen during a physiotherapy session at a non-governmental organization in Bhopal, India, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009. AP / Altaf Qadri
A family stands beside the front of their house near the Union Carbide factory on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Children on the perimeter wall at the site of the deserted Union Carbide factory on Nov. 29, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
A boy struggles to take a calf for grazing inside the Union Carbide factory compound through a broken wall in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Discarded bottles of chemicals lay on the floor in a building at the site of the deserted Union Carbide factory on Nov. 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
A volunteer works on a mural painting outside the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009. AP / Altaf Qadri
Women complaining of ailments due to exposure to methyl isocyanate leaked during the Bhopal industrial disaster wait to consult doctor at a clinic run by a non governmental organization in Bhopal, India on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Residents meander along the streets of the Arif Nagar slum in Bhopal on Nov. 17, 2009. Livestock outnumber humans at the Arif Nagar slum, a toxic wasteyard next to the site of the world's worst industrial accident, which occurred 25 years ago this week in the Indian city of Bhopal. AFP / Getty Images / Raveendran
A man uses a hand pump to get water near the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. AP / Saurabh Das
Women fill containers with clean water, that had been transported in because the local water is contaminated near the site of the deserted Union Carbide factory on Nov. 28, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Children play near water towers in front of their homes near the Union Carbide factory on Nov. 27, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
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