Haunting Chernobyl: Day of Remembrance of Nuclear Catastrophe

April 26, marks the 32nd anniversary since the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant took place in northern Ukraine. What followed was a cataclysmic event which turned the once-busy city of Pripyat into a ghost town.

The explosions nearly destroyed the reactor core of the plant, igniting a fire that continued to burn for nine days.

Areas estimated at 50,000 square kilometers, mainly in the three then-Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were contaminated, as the giant radioactive cloud moved toward European countries.

About 8.4 million citizens of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation. According to the Union Chernobyl of Ukraine, about 9,000 Russian liquidators died and over 55,000 were disabled as a result of the Chernobyl tragedy.

To this day, the area of Chernobyl is unfit for living.

1 / 18

Aerial view of Chernobyl nuclear power plant with sarcophagus. (Chernobyl, Ukraine).

CC BY 2.0 / Vadim Mouchkin / IAEA / Chernobyl nuclear power plant

2 / 18

Graffiti on a building in the Chernobyl zone, Ukraine.

3 / 18

Helicopters decontaminating the buildings of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the accident.

4 / 18

A worker checks the radiation level in the 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Friday, April 20, 2018. April 26 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, leading to an explosion and the subsequent fire spewed a radioactive plume over much of northern Europe.

5 / 18

View of the new safe confinement (NSC) and sarcophagus at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the city of Pripyat.

Go to the mediabank

6 / 18

A dog in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant at the Teshkov checkpoint.

Go to the mediabank

7 / 18

The city of Pripyat, which was evacuated after the Chernobyl accident in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Go to the mediabank

8 / 18

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 5, 2017, journalists take a selfie in front of a monument of the founder of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin in Chernobyl, Ukraine. April 26 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, leading to an explosion and the subsequent fire spewed a radioactive plume over much of northern Europe.

9 / 18

Shield of the third power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Go to the mediabank

10 / 18

Dumping point for radioactive equipment used during the liquidation of the fallout of the Chernobyl accident.

Go to the mediabank

11 / 18

Covering of the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with a decontaminating solution.

Go to the mediabank

12 / 18

A picture taken on April 23, 2018 in the ghost village of Kopachi near the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant shows an abandoned kindergarten visited by tourists during their tour to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

13 / 18

A photo taken on January 22, 2016 shows the snow covered ghost city Pripyat, near to Chernobyl Power Plant.

14 / 18

Decontamination work to reduce the levels of radioactive contamination in the 30-kilometer zone after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

Go to the mediabank

15 / 18

Monument to the liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

Go to the mediabank

16 / 18

In one of the buildings in Pripyat, Ukraine.

CC0 / Pixabay /

17 / 18

Journalists take a selfie in a corridor of the closed third reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine April 20, 2018.

18 / 18

The abandoned territory in the zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

CC0 / Pixabay /