Chernobyl: People who risked their lives and broke the law to secretly return home | World | New



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The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986 in the No. 4 nuclear reactor located near the city of Pripyat, in northern Ukraine. The event saw 400 times more radioactive material than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sent into the sky. However, Pripyat, which is on the Belarusian border, was only evacuated several hours after the explosion, despite many cases of illness, severe headaches, uncontrollable vomiting and radiation burns.

The inhabitants were asked to bring only the necessary for a three-day evacuation in a lodging prepared in Kiev.

As a result, most personal belongings have been left behind and are still visible today.

Just ten days after the accident, the Soviet armed forces set up an "exclusion zone" within a 20-mile radius, which is still in place today.

Since then, the no-go zone has been extended to 1,000 square miles – mainly from Ukraine, but also from Belarus – to protect the population from radioactive fallout.

Some residents have chosen to return to Chernobyl

Some residents have chosen to return to Chernobyl (Image: GETTY)

The Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986

The Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986 (Image: GETTY)

Your house is your home, it's not a choice. We did not choose to live in the shade of the plant and we did not choose that it explodes, but it happened

Yevgeny Markevich

Despite the warning signs and the legal implications of returning to the area, some residents have decided to return.

Known in the local dialect as "Samosely", which means "self-colonists", this is a group of about 200 people living in the "ghost towns" contaminated.

The majority of Samosely are elderly people who have been living at home since childhood.

When the population was evacuated, they either refused to leave, or relocated secretly to the unprotected area.

The average age of these illegal residents was 63 in 2007 and, in 2012, local governments informally allowed older people to continue to live in the area, but asked younger residents to leave.

This group lives in private homes, grows vegetable gardens and orchards, fishing on the Prypyat River and picks mushrooms – despite widespread contamination.

In 2016, YEvgeny Markevich, a 78-year-old former teacher who lives in the area explained why he will never leave.

He told New Day: "I only want to live in Chernobyl.

"I can not explain why people want to live here. Do they follow their hearts? Are they nostalgic? who knows.

"Your house is your home, it's not a choice. We did not choose to live in the shade of the plant and we did not choose that it explodes, but it happened.

"This place is where we belong."

Yevgeny Markevic went home

Yevgeny Markevic went home (Image: GETTY)

Most of the region is a ghost town

Most of the region is a ghost town (Image: GETTY)

In April 2013, Ukrainian politician Natalia Korolevska said the settlers enjoyed the full social support of the government, but she ruled out the possibility of legalizing their habitat in the area because it is still forbidden to live. The.

After failing to force the population to leave the region, the government is now helping residents of 11 surrounding villages Exclusion zone.

A truck crosses the area once a week discount basic supplies, including rice, flour and pasta to allow Samosel to survive.

Chernobyl disaster It was produced during a security test conducted late in the evening simulating a power failure, during which the emergency safety and regulation systems of the power supply were intentionally disabled.

A combination of design defects inherent in the reactor and reactor operators arranging the core contrary to the test checklist resulted in uncontrolled reaction conditions.

The overheated water was instantly transformed into steam, causing a destructive explosion and an open graphite fire.

The fire was finally brought under control on May 4, 1986, but plumes of fission products released into the atmosphere by fire precipitated in parts of the USSR and Western Europe.

The total number of victims remains a highly controversial subject.

During the accident, the effects of steam blast caused two deaths in the facility. However, over the next few days and weeks, many workers have been exposed to a lethal dose of radiation.

Some tourists visit the area to learn more about history

Some tourists visit the area to learn more about history (Image: GETTY)

Local residents fish in the radioactive river

Local residents fish in the radioactive river (Image: GETTY)

At least 134 soldiers were hospitalized for acute radiation syndrome (ARS), of which 28 firefighters and employees died in a few months.

In addition, about 14 radiation-induced cancer deaths among this group of 134 survivors were expected to follow in the next 10 years.

More than 237 people were affected by Acute Radiation Syndrome, 31 of whom died in the first three months.

In addition, about 62,000 miles of land were heavily impacted by fallout, with the most affected regions being Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

Contamination from the Chernobyl accident has been unevenly dispersed as a function of weather conditions. Some of it has even been transported to the mountains of Welsh.

In 2011, Ukraine opened the sealed area around the Chernobyl reactor to tourists who want to know more about disaster.

Some local elders now work as tour guides and organize daily excursions from Kiev.

Visitors must present their pbadport when they enter Exclusion zone and are filtered for radiation when going out at once 10 km checkpoint and 30 km checkpoint.

The fourth episode of 'Chernobyl' – a dramatic mini-drama series – will air tonight on Sky Atlantic at 9pm in the UK.

He is available to watch on HBO in the United States.

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