A raging forest fire near Chernobyl threatening the former nuclear plant has been contained. Ukrainian authorities confirmed on Tuesday 14 April that the fires were under control.
A fire broke our on Saturday 4 April and has been burning ever since according to CNN.
In a Facebook post, the head of Ukraine’s ecological inspection service, Egor Fisov said: ‘There is bad news — in the center of the fire, radiation is above normal.
‘As you can see in the video, the readings of the device are 2.3, when the norm is 0.14. But this is only within the area of the fire outbreak.’
The largest fire spanned over 34,000 hectares, according to Green Peace Russia who spoke to Reuters. The NGO also said that a fire was 1km close to the plant and spanned over 12,0000 hectares.
Fires are common in this area but this particular blaze has been the worst in decades. Local police have also arrested a man suspected of starting the fires, according to BBC.
In 1986 a nuclear accident at the former plant had a catastrophic impact, spreading radioactive waste across Europe. Ever since, Chernobyl and a town nearby called Pripyat have been abandoned. In recent years, the eery site has however, attracted numbers of tourists to participate in ‘dark tourism’. This essentially means visitors, along with an informed guide, visit the Exclusion Zone of Chernobyl for either a day trip or longer.
Image: Instagram/ @wumivia
