According to the Ukrainian government, the fire, which broke out 11 days ago around the Chernobyl nuclear power factory, has been extinguished.
The forest fire that raged for 11 days in Ukraine and came very close to the inactive Chernobyl nuclear reactor was finally brought under control, according to Ukrainian government statements. According to the government's announcement, hundreds of emergency workers worked at the scene with planes and helicopters, dropping water.
Environmentalists warned yesterday that the fire, near the site of the worst nuclear accident in the world in 1986, poses a risk of radiation.
Yaroslav Yemelianenko, a travel agent in Chernobyl, described the fire on Facebook as critical, saying he had arrived in the abandoned city of Pripyat, two kilometers from where "the most active radioactive waste in the entire Chernobyl zone" is located.
However, Ukrainian authorities said today that although they had recorded short-term increases in Caesium-137 (Cs-137) molecules in the Kyiv region south of the plant, radiation levels remained within normal limits and no additional safeguards were required.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised transparency on the issue and will meet later today with the head of the emergency services. "Society needs to know the truth and be safe," he said in a statement late on Monday.
The fire started on April 3 in the western part of the blockade zone and spread to nearby forests.
Police say they have located a 27-year-old resident accused of arson, but it remains unclear whether the man, who reportedly set the fires "for fun," is partly or fully responsible for the blaze.
The fires were inside the Chernobyl Exclusive Zone created after the 1986 disaster at the factory. The reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded on April 26, 1986, polluting, according to some estimates, up to three-quarters of Europe.
Authorities evacuated the area after the disaster, removing hundreds of thousands of people and left abandoned a huge area covering more than 2,000 square kilometers.
All photo credits to: cnn.gr & news247.gr
COMMENTS