Welcome to Exclusion Zone: Tourists Flock to Chernobyl Amid HBO Series' Success

One Chernobyl tour agency, cited by Reuters, stated that trip bookings to the Exclusion Zone in Ukraine had risen by 40 percent.

This year, 26 April marked the 33rd anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster; it took place in northern Ukraine at the height of the Cold War. The horrifying tragedy made the world fear the prospect of a nuclear apocalypse.

Sputnik has compiled a gallery showing the present state of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Pripyat, located near the site where the major catastrophe occurred.

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Visitors take pictures of a fox in the abandoned city of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.

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Visitors pass through a radiological control checkpoint after visiting the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.

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Visitors inspect structures of former Soviet over-the-horizon (OTH) radar system "Duga" near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.

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A visitor takes a picture of gas masks at a former base of the Soviet Army, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.

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Visitors take a selfie at a river port of the abandoned city of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.

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Visitors stand outside the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

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A visitor takes a picture of a dosimeter near the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure over the old sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

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A visitor takes photos of a building in the abandoned city of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

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Visitors take pictures at a kindergarten in the abandoned village of Kopachi, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

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Visitors walk in the abandoned city of Pripyat, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine.