25 years after, we go back in time to Chernobyl
Image: Picture taken from a helicopter in April 1986 shows a general view of the destroyed 4th power block of Chernobyl's nuclear power plant few days after the catastrophe.
The explosion that occurred on that fateful day in reactor 4 of the nuclear power plant -- and the consequent fires which lasted for over a week -- led to enormous amounts of radioactive substance being released into the environment and a huge radioactive cloud, which covered much of Europe affecting Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in particular.
Radioactive ash and dust spewed over 200,000 square kilometres after the reactor exploded and caught fire. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were the most affected regions, but deposits reached as far across as Scotland and Ireland, requiring in some places long-term restrictions on cattle grazing.
Over five million people living these three countries were contaminated with the radioactive substance, Caesium-137 due to the Chernobyl accident. Four lakh of these people were living in very contaminated areas classified as "areas of strict control" by the then Soviet Union authorities. Within this region, the 30km area most proximate to the Chernobyl power plant was designated as the "exclusion zone".
Images: AFP
Text: Agencies
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