Ukraine: Candlelit Ceremony In Slavutych To Commemorate 14Th Anniversary Of The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Record ID: 4201

  • Title: Ukraine: Candlelit Ceremony In Slavutych To Commemorate 14Th Anniversary Of The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
  • Date: 26th April 2000
  • Summary: Thousands of people have held a candlelit ceremony commemorating the 14th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Many of those at the ceremony in the Ukrainian town of Slavutych, which is near Chernobyl, lost relatives or colleagues in the disaster. Slavutych is a purpose-built town that houses the workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Many of those who took part in the candlelit ceremony at the town square early on April 26 had either relatives or friends who died in the Chernobyl fire or who died from radiation sickness later. Chernobyl's number four reactor exploded at 1:30 am local time on April 26, 1986, spreading a poisonous radioactive cloud over much of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and parts of Western Europe. Thousands of workers drafted in from many parts of the Soviet Union struggled to erect a concrete "tomb" over the shattered reactor, dumping sand and chemicals on the fire and building a rail line to bring in building materials. One man who attended the candlelit vigil in Slavutych said he comes every year. He said: "Those were my people, my folks. Emotionally, I find it very hard. " Another woman paid tribute to the workers who were sent in to fight the fire and clean-up and who subsequently died of radiation sickness. She said: "Those people took the blow for us so that we and our children could live. "As well as the commemoration in Slavutych, which was built after the disaster, there were also ceremonies in the capital Kiev, 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the south. President Leonid Kuchma visited a Kiev church honouring victims and laid a wreath at the monument to the victims of the disaster. The explosion in Chernobyl remains the world's worst nuclear accident to date with tens of thousands of square kilometres of adjacent territory contaminated and tens of thousands of people affected. The Ukrainian government promised to shut down the only remaining operational reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant this year, but has appealed to the world community to help to pay the bill.
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  • Location: UKRAINE CIS SLAVUTYCH
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012D6Y92Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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