Anniversary of Chornobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine

17:41, 26 April 2018

On April 26, Ukraine marks the sad anniversary of the largest man-made disaster of the past century. On April 26, 1986, the fourth power unit of Chornobyl power plant exploded, emitting huge dozes of radioactive materials.

The blast occurred due to a human factor and miscalculations during the construction of the power unit. The radiation did enormous damage to the ground, water and air within the range of many kilometers away from the station.

Ukraine, Belarus and Russia took most of the damage; however, the radioactive cloud affected other countries in Europe as well, reaching the Scandinavian countries, Bulgaria and Austria. Dozens of thousands of liquidators gave their lives to put out the fire in the power unit and to build a concrete sarcophagus over the reactor.

31 people died over the first several days after the disaster. Hundreds more deceased because of the diseases caused by the radiation impact. Millions still face the consequences of the disaster.