The interior of a kindergarten is seen in the abandoned city of Prypiat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
-- PHOTO: REUTERS
KIEV - THE world on Tuesday marks a quarter century since the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine, haunted by fears over the safety of atomic energy after the Japan earthquake.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is to make a landmark visit to Chernobyl later on Tuesday to take part in the memorial ceremonies at the site, joined by his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych.
In the early hours of April 26, 1986, workers at the Chernobyl atomic power station in the then Soviet republic were carrying out a test on reactor four when operating errors and design flaws sparked successive explosions.
Radioactive debris landed around the reactor, creating an apocalyptic scene in the surrounding area, while material also blew into the neighbouring Soviet republics of Belarus and Russia and further into western Europe.
Two workers were killed by the explosion and 28 other rescuers and staff died of radiation exposure in the next months. Tens of thousands needed to be evacuated and fears remain of the scale of damage to people's health.
The commemorations kicked off with a service led by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in the Kiev region in the early hours of Tuesday. He struck a bell at 1:23 am local time (2223 GMT Monday, 7.23am Tuesday, Singapore time) - the time when the explosion happened off. -- AFP
A child gas mask and a doll are seen inside a kindergarten in the abandoned city of Prypiat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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