Sunil Verma ( 1972 − 16 August 2006 ) , himself a victim , was a campaigner for the rights of victims affected by the Bhopal disaster , the deadliest industrial disaster as of 2007 . He testified in a case against the company when it came up for hearing in New York City in 1986 . He formed the Children Against Carbide organization in 1987 , when he was fifteen . Born in Bhopal in 1972 , the son of a carpenter , Verma lived in JP Nagar , near the plant run by Union Carbide , now a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals , when the gas leak occurred on 3 December 1984 . He and his family tried to escape , as the poisonous cloud of methyl isocyanate gas descended on the slum settlement in Madhya Pradesh 's state capital . The family members got separated , and Sunil Verma , with eyes burning and chest in pain , managed to board a bus that took him to Hoshangabad , about 70 km ( 44 miles ) away . He lost consciousness and was taken to the district hospital . He returned to Bhopal a week later to find both his parents , three sisters and two brothers dead . His two younger siblings , a sister aged 10 and a brother of two-and-half , were the only other survivors . Relatives took the children to Lucknow , but the children returned to Bhopal , surviving on the generosity of neighbours , both Hindu and Muslim . Sunil 's sister and brother moved to the SOS village - a shelter set up by a charity to house orphans of the gas tragedy - while Sunil managed to study into his teenage years
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster
Sunil Verma