Commemoration of 30th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Begins with Ceremony in Church

Thirty years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, relatives of the victims gathered in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in the early hours of April 26 to hold a religious ceremony, lighting candles and laying flowers. The ceremony was held at St. Michael’s Church, and the church bells rang 30 times this year to mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster.

In the early hours of April 26, 1986, an accident at reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, caused an explosion and spread of radioactive materials and deadly clouds containing atomic substances that reached areas in Central and Northern Europe.

Natalia, a former Chernobyl power plant employee, says: “I am here to commemorate those who worked with me at the plant, to commemorate my son and my husband who are no longer by my side.”

Some former Chernobyl power plant staff and individuals who went there for cleanup operations after the disaster attended the ceremony.

Georgy Ladatko, who was working near the accident site at the power plant at the time of the Chernobyl disaster, says: “The authorities of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant told me that those who were exposed to radiation in the first 5 days would only live another three and a half years. We didn’t take it seriously. Five years passed, then 15 years, and now 30 years. Thank God my friends and I are still alive.”

A United Nations report indicates that at least 4,000 people died as a result of this disaster, but Greenpeace says this tragedy resulted in 200,000 deaths and vast areas in Europe have been contaminated with radioactive materials.

In Kyiv, the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will continue throughout Tuesday.

Source: Euronews