The direct death toll described as thousands is associated with which incident?

• A. AZF
• B. T2 Laboratories
• C. Bhopal disaster
• D. None of the above

Answer: (C)

This question is about the scale of fatalities from major chemical incidents. The Bhopal disaster is noted for a direct death toll in the thousands when a methyl isocyanate release from a pesticide plant in India in 1984 enveloped the surrounding area. The immediate fatalities ran into thousands, and there were many more deaths over time from related health effects, making it by far the most catastrophic in terms of immediate death toll among the options. The other incidents, while deadly, resulted in far fewer deaths in the immediate aftermath. AZF and T2 Laboratories had counts in the dozens to low hundreds range, not thousands. So the incident associated with thousands of direct deaths is the Bhopal disaster.