Chernobyl 30 Years Later, A South African Visits the Eerie Site PICTURES

Thirty years ago today, 26 April 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in the then Soviet Union. A South African who recently visited and took these pictures says the site, now in the Ukraine, is one of the eeriest places he has ever visited.

“After the explosion, the Soviets kept it quite for several days and the disaster was only  revealed when radiation levels spiked in Sweden. The number of people who died in the first explosion and all those who died either from battling the fires or radiation is not known.

“The area lies about two hours’ drive from Kiev, Ukraine. The entire plant is being decontaminated, a process that will probably still take decades. A new sarcophagus is being built to cover the reactor that was destroyed by the explosion.

“Next-door to Chernobyl, but still within the exclusion zone, is a huge radar built by the Soviets to detect missiles launched in the US. The radar and attending village remain deserted today.

“Some people have chosen to return to the exclusion zone, which remains one of the eeriest places I’ve ever visited.”