Haunting images show the ghost city of Pripyat which was evacuated 33 years ago after the Chernobyl explosion
Peggy Jones
HAUNTING images show the ghost city of Pripyat, Ukraine, which was evacuated 33 years ago after the Chernobyl explosion.
The disaster was a catastrophic nuclear explosion that took place in 1986 - thousands of people died due to long-term radiation left in the air.
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Dodgem cars at an abandoned fairground in the Chernobyl evacuation zoneCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
These images, by photographer Harvey Hook, 38, of Birmingham show the ghost city of Pripyat, filled with abandoned schools and apartment buildings.
He says: “These scenes have a post-apocalyptic feel about them.
“The images show how the world might be if all the humans disappeared.
“It was certainly haunting walking around and wondering how everyone felt back then, escaping what would have been one of the world’s worst disasters.
“It’s odd to think that the residents who were evacuated never went back and I thought about the memories they had left behind.
“While I was photographing the area, I couldn’t help but worry about the current levels of radiation still lingering.
The current levels are said to be safe but you’re still checked when you leave to make sure you haven’t been irradiated.”
HBO are dramatising the events in their TV show Chernobyl, the final episode of the series airs tomorrow evening on Tuesday June 4.
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The remains of the power plant at Chernobyl, where people were evacuated in 1986 after a power station reactor explodedCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Another view of the abandoned Chernobyl evacuation zoneCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A poster celebrating the founding of the USSR on the floor of an office in PripyatCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Abandoned elevators in the city's Polissya HotelCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Old schoolbooks litter the floor of a school in Pripyat, UkraineCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
What is the Chernobyl disaster?
The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on April 26 in 1986
Two people died immediedtly as a result of the disaster, but thousands more were affected in the long term by radiation in the air
The city of Pripyat in the Ukraine was evacuated after the accident occurred and it has been left abandoned for 33 years
The fifth episode of the HBO television show Chernobyl airs on Tuesday June 4
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Books line the floors of an eerily quiet and abandoned former schoolCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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An abandoned hallway in a school in Pripyat, UkraineCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Apartments were abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986Credit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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The outside of the abandoned Polissya hotel in ChernobylCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Abandoned apartment buildings are scattered throughout the cityCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A painting of a child on the side of a building in sunny Pripyat, where the disaster occurredCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A yellow ferris wheel lies abandoned after the Chernobyl disasterCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A clock on the roof of a local swimming poolCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A wide shot of an eerie fairground in the abandoned cityCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A sports hall at an abandoned school in Pripyat, UkraineCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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Rusting dodgem cars that were abandoned after the nuclear disasterCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A bathroom in an abandoned school in PripyatCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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A rusting cash register in a school canteen in Pripyat, ChernobylCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
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The nuclear disaster released unprecedented levels of radiation into the air in 1986, forcing everyone to don gas masksCredit: Harvey Hook/HotSpot Media
