Inside control room of derelict Union Carbide Factory. (Getty Images)

Guard pointing to location where gas leak killed thousands of people 1985. (Getty Images)

1984 :: Wanted Poster of Warren Anderson for Bhopal Gas Tragedy pic.twitter.com/xCfJPxCiRc — indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) October 31,

WASHINGTON: The man who carried the burden of an apocalyptic disaster, the world's biggest industrial catastrophe that resulted in the death of thousands of Indians, is dead.On Warren Anderson 's desk was said to have rested a paperweight with the Chinese proverb, ''Leader is best when people barely know he exists." After the Bhopal Gas tragedy in December 1984 that killed anywhere between 3,787 (official count) and 15000+ Indians (unofficial and still counting), Anderson did everything possible to ensure people knew he barely existed, disappearing from public view and living in hiding for nearly 30 years to escape New Delhi's feeble effort to bring him to justice.Such was his quest for soul-resting anonymity after the ghastly tragedy that although he died nearly a month ago (on September 29), the news surfaced only after the New York Times noticed his obituary in a small Connecticut newspaper called Vero Beach 32963. The family did not announce the death, which had to be confirmed through public records. The paper said Anderson, who was 92, and his wife Lillian, who survives him, lived a quiet, unpretentious life in a small private community, tending to their garden and going for long walks in the years immediately after the disaster.They retreated to an even smaller apartment on an island in December each year when the media tried on the anniversary of the disaster to corner Anderson, who retired in 1986. The couple also kept a century-old home in Bridgehampton, NY, where journalists who beat a path to their door were shooed out if the couple was home. In later years, Lillian claimed that her husband's memory was fading and he could not talk.Anderson gave only one interview to NYT in the immediate months after the disaster when he fled India after he was briefly arrested when he went to Bhopal (some accounts suggest the government at that time was complicit in allowing him to get bail and leave India). After returning to the US, he said hadn't taken his wife out to dinner much because ''if somebody caught me laughing about something over in the corner, they might not think it was appropriate.''"It must be like when someone loses a son or daughter," he said. "You wake up in the morning and think, can this possibly have occurred? And then you know it has and you know it's something you're going to struggle with for a long time." No one saw him struggle, at least publicly. The general sentiment on social media as news of his death surfaced was that he would rot in hell after being meted justice at the hands of his maker.Nearly 75% of India of today was not born when the Bhopal gas tragedy occurred on a misty December morning in the central Indian city best known at that time for its many lovely lakes. It was also home to a Union Carbide pesticide plant that, unbeknownst to many, stored many toxic chemicals under loose supervision.On the night of December 2-3, a poisonous gas called methyl iso-cyanate leaked from the plant and swept across the city, mostly into poor shanty towns, instantly killing hundreds of people. Thousands would die eventually and more than 500,000 would suffer from gas-leak related health issues, including lung cancer and kidney and liver failure, over the next three decades.Anderson flew to Bhopal four days after the disaster and was immediately arrested. But he paid bail under controversial circumstances, including reported collusion and lax oversight by the state and central government, and flew out of India, never to return again.In 1989, Union Carbide paid $470 million to the Indian government to settle litigation stemming from the disaster, but the settlement was widely seen as a sell-out. Efforts resumed to have Anderson extradited but successive US administrations showed no interest in bringing him or Union Carbide to justice.