An outside review of the deadly 1984 gas leak at a Bhopal, India plant was intended to objectively assesses the cause of the disaster, Union Carbide Corp. says, although the resulting report provides little new information on the incident. The report released Tuesday by the firm Arthur D. Little Inc. supported Carbide's claims that sabotage by a disgruntled employee caused the disaster. It also refuted as ``physically impossible'' the Indian government's contention that the disaster stemmed from negligence. ``We wanted the world to know that somebody that had a reputation that was worldwide and sterling...would look at things critically,'' said Bud Holman, a Carbide attorney. The report did not provide a motive for sabotage or name the worker believed responsible. But Holman said the company and the Indian government knew the worker's identity, and it eventually would be revealed in court. He said the worker wanted to punish a superior who had demoted him. Ashok Kalelkare, a senior vice president of Arthur D. Little, based in Cambridge, Mass., presented the findings Tuesday to a London symposium sponsored by the Institute of Chemical Engineers of the United Kingdom. An Indian government attorney involved in the case on declined comment on the report today, saying it would be ``improper while we're in litigation.'' He insisted on anonymity. In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Carbide closed up 75 cents a share to $23.87{ on Tuesday. At least 2,850 people were killed and 20,000 injured when methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a holding tank at Union Carbide India Ltd.'s Bhopal plant on Dec. 3, 1984. More than 500,000 people have filed claims in the case and the Indian government filed criminal charges against Carbide in December. The Arthur D. Little report theorized that a worker entered the plant's storage area during a shift change the night of Dec. 2, 1984, and hooked a rubber hose to the methyl isocyanate tank with the intention of ruining the tank's contents. The chemical produces a deadly gas when mixed with water. ``The results of this investigation show, with virtual certainty, that the Bhopal incident was caused by the entry of water to the tank through a hose that had been connected directly to the tank,'' the report stated. ``It is equally clear that those most directly involved attempted to obfuscate these events.'' The report was based on interviews with more than 70 former employees of the now-closed plant. Among those interviewed was an unidentified instrument supervisor who told investigators that the day after the disaster he discovered a gauge on the chemical tank had been replaced with a plug. Nearby, he also noticed a length of hose with water running from it, the report said. The report theorized that the gauge was removed, the hose inserted, and the hole filled with a plug once the water had been added to the tank. The Indian government contends that water got into the chemical tank when a worker failed to install a ``slip-blind,'' a device that prevents water from backing up, while cleaning a filter about 400 feet away. But Arthur D. Little's report asserted the theory was implausible for three reasons: the worker's hose pressure wasn't high enough to raise the water to the level of the chemical tank; a safety valve to prevent such a mishap was found in good working order after the accident; and pipes that would have remained filled with water after such an occurrence were dry. The report alleged that workers altered plant logs to hide that they tried to drain the tank after realizing water had been added. The consultant's report was highly critical of the Indian government, saying it stuck to the negligence theory despite evidence to the contrary and hindered Union Carbide's ability to discover what actually happened. The company finally got access to key plant records and through them the names of plant employees when a U.S. magistrate ordered India to produce copies of the documents as part of the civil suit to which it was a party
