ABSTRACT
These events marked a watershed. Tech - nological hazard was no longer confined to the MDCs and, as shown by the Mexico City disaster, the ‘domino’ disaster had arrived. These are event ‘chains’ that occur when an accident in one industrial unit causes one or more knock-on acci - dents nearby. A common sequence would start with a loss-of-containment accident, perhaps a leak of flammable gas, which reaches nearby systems and causes a further loss of containment, due to ignition and explosion. According to Khan and Abbasi (2001), domino accidents result from increasing congestion within industrial com plexes, coupled with large concentrations of population around such plants. These charac - teristics are particularly common in the LDCs. The Bhopal disaster sprang from some of these factors, as did the refinery accident at Vishakhap - atam, India, in September 1997 that claimed 60 lives.
