Victims of Bhopal gas tragedy say pandemic has worsened their plight

FILE PHOTO: A girl who suffers from hearing and speech disorders reacts to the camera at a rehabilitation centre supported by Bhopal Medical Appeal, for children who were born with mental and physical disabilities, in Bhopal in this November 11, 2014 photo. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

BHOPAL, India (Reuters) - Protesters in the central Indian city of Bhopal formed a human chain on Thursday to demand justice for people suffering cancer, blindness, respiratory, immune and neurological problems from the world's worst industrial disaster 36 years ago.

In the early hours of December 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide factory owned by American Union Carbide Corporation. More than half a million people were poisoned that night and the official death toll exceeded 5,000.