What happened at Chernobyl and how many people died?
THE nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl claimed 31 lives as well as leaving thousands of people and animals exposed to potentially fatal radiation.
Here's all the grim details about the world's worst nuclear disaster during the 1980s.
What happened at Chernobyl?
When an alarm bellowed out at the nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, workers looked on in horror as the control panels signaled a major meltdown in the number four reactor.
The safety switches had been switched off in the early hours to test the turbine but the reactor overheated and generated a blast - the equivalent of 500 nuclear bombs.
The reactor's roof was blown off and a plume of radioactive material was blasted into the atmosphere.
As air was sucked into the shattered reactor, it ignited flammable carbon monoxide gas causing a fire which burned for nine days.
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The catastrophe released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Soviet authorities waited 24 hours before evacuating the nearby town of Pripyat - giving the 50,000 residents just three hours to leave their homes.
After the accident traces of radioactive deposits were found in Belarus where poisonous rain damaged plants and caused animal mutations.
But the devastating impact was also felt in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, France and the UK.
An 18-mile radius known as the “Exclusion Zone” was set up around the reactor following the disaster.
Most recently, on February 24, 2022 during , Ukraine .
An adviser to the Ukrainian President, Mykhailo Poldoliak, told reporters: ";After a fierce battle, our control over the Chernobyl site was lost.
"The condition of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, confinement, and nuclear waste storage facilities is unknown."
That same day Russian troops descended upon Chernobyl, capturing the area rapidly and killing those who stood in their way.
Ukrainian President tweeted that day in response to the events, “Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the Chernobyl [Nuclear Power Plant]. Our defenders are sacrificing their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated.
"This is a declaration of war against the whole of Europe.”
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, told that Ukrainian troops had put up a "fierce resistance," but warned, "radioactive dust could cover the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and the countries of the European Union.”
When was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on April 23, 1986.
The accident started during a safety test on an RBMK-type nuclear reactor.
During a planned decrease in the reactor's power, which would allow the test to take place, power fell to virtually nothing.
Workers were able to only partially restore the specified test power, which left the reactor in a potentially unstable situation.
This risk was not detailed in the operating instructions, so the operators proceeded with the electrical test.
Once the test was completed, the operators triggered a reactor shutdown, but a combination of unstable conditions and reactor design flaws caused an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
It is thought to have been the world's worst nuclear disaster - both in terms of lives lost and cost.
How many people died?
The exact death toll is not known and the long-term affects could last for decades.
At least 31 people died in the 1986 accident - including two who were killed at the scene and more who passed away a few months later from Acute Radiation Syndrome.
The actual death toll is hard to predict as mortality rates have been hidden by propaganda and reports were lost when the Soviet Union broke up.
Approximately another 14 people have died from suspected radiation-induced cancer in the ten years since the explosion.
In 2005, the World Health Organisation revealed a total of 4,000 people could eventually die of radiation exposure.
About 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been seen since the disaster - mainly in people who were children or teenagers at the time.
Is it safe to go there now?
The site and Pripyat became a tourist hotspot since 2010.
Social media influencers have flocked to the ghostly site.
But many have been blasted as disrespectful for taking 'sexy selfies' in the death zone.
There are around 160 villages in the Exclusion Zone but the basement of the hospital in Pripyat remains one of the more chilling stories.
The firemen were taken to the hospital for treatment and their clothes, which had been stripped off, were discarded.
Later radiation readings at the site reached 7,000 millisieverts - the risk of haemorrhage starts at 1,000 while death begins at 4,000.
Since the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion it is not likely that it is currently safe to visit Chernobyl now.
The ghost town also includes a school that features in Call of Duty - an abandoned Ferris wheel and homes frantically deserted when evacuation began.
Tourists have to be screened before they enter the Exclusion Zone and are told not to touch anything within the cordon.
Holiday companies offer packages that give an official tour of the Exclusion Zone.
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