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Agence France-Presse (AFP), Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Apr 26, 2004
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KIEV - Some 100 people attended an overnight religious service in the
Ukrainian capital Kiev, commemorating the victims of the worst nuclear
accident in history, in Chernobyl in the north of the country, 18 years ago.
Under a thin rain, men and women laid wreaths at the foot of a monument to
the firemen who died of radiation poisoning after they were sent to clean up
the site of the disaster.
"Each year, there are fewer of us to attend this service," said 40-year-old
Tetyana Lazarenko, who, along with her family, was evacuated from the town
of Pripyat, where Chernobyl employees used to live next to the nuclear power
plant, 36 hours after its fourth reactor exploded in April 1986.
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Ukrainians light up candles to commemorate those who died after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, during a night service at the memorial to Chernobyl firefighters
REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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"I lost a town, friends, people who were close to me. We all had health
problems because of radiation," she added.
"You cannot forget such a tragedy," said Lazarenko, who now lives in Kiev
with her husband and three children.
Another overnight service was held at Slavutich, a town in northern Ukraine
housing employees who worked at Chernobyl until it was closed down in
December.
A radioactive cloud was spewed high into the atmosphere when Chernobyl's
fourth reactor exploded, burning for 10 days and spreading radioactive
material over three-quarters of Europe.
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Officially, 31 people were immediately killed by radiation following the
blast on April 26, 1986, but unofficial estimates hold that as many as
25,000 of the workers that were sent to clean up the site have since died.
Tens of thousands were crippled from their exposure to high radiation doses
and now say their government allowances are not enough to live on.
Over 130,000 people were evacuated from the disaster area and nearly six
million continue to live in contaminated zones, in northern Ukraine, as well
as stretches of Belarus and Russia.
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General view of the sarcophagus at Chernobyl
AFP/File/Sergei Supinsky
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Ukraine closed down the fourth and last reactor of the Chernobyl power plant
in December 2000.
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