A spokesman from Union Carbide has denied reports that Dow Chemical had accepted responsibility for the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 which killed over 3,000.

Denying a report by the BBC from Paris that said Dow also had a $12 billion compensation plan for victims, the spokesman said by telephone from London: "The BBC story is false", Reuters reported.

Earlier, there were reports that Dow Chemical Co, in a major policy reversal had accepted full responsibility for the disaster.

"Today I am very, very happy to announce that, for the first time Dow is accepting full responsibility for the Bhopal catastrophe," company spokesman Jude Finisterra is supposed to have told BBC World television.

The report had stated that the company was also planning "$12-billion" compensation package for the victims "including the 1,20,000 who may need medical care for their entire lives and to fully and swiftly remediate the Bhopal plant site".