Ukraine marks 30th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster
Online Desk
26 Apr 2016 07:20 AM
People set candles in front of portraits at the monument to Chernobyl victims in Slavutich, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the accident site, and where many of the power station's personnel used to live, during a memorial ceremony early on April 26, 2
Ukraine has begun commemorations to mark the 30th anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, reports the BBC.
Sirens were sounded at the same moment as the first explosion at the reactor, in the early hours of 26 April 1986.
The meltdown at the plant remains the worst nuclear disaster in history.
An uncontrolled reaction blew the roof off, spewing out a cloud of radioactive material which drifted across Ukraine's borders, into Russia, Belarus and across a swathe of northern Europe.
A memorial service was held in the town of Slavutych, built to re-house workers who lived near the nuclear plant.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is due to attend a ceremony near the site and a church service will be held in Kiev for the families of victims.
Some former residents returned to the area, now derelict and overgrown, ahead of the anniversary.
Zoya Perevozchenko, 66, lived in Pripyat, the town inhabited by Chernobyl workers which was abandoned in the wake of the accident.
