The nuclear disaster at Ukraine’s Chernobyl plant in 1986 was the worst the world has ever seen, and now new footage of the facility and abandoned city of Pripyat provides a haunting portrait of how horrific the accident must have been.
More than 100,000 people were evacuated from the area immediately following the disaster and while it is believed that only 32 people died that day as a direct result of the explosion and fire, radioactive fallout affected up to nine million people.
The radioactive effects of the explosion were 400 times more potent than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. Last year, engineers completed a colossal arch-shaped structure to permanently seal the exploded reactor.
New footage of the disaster site and city of Pripyat was shot by cinematographer Danny Cooke, who visited the area last June while working on a project for the CBS News show 60 Minutes.
The use of a drone carrying a camera allowed him to capture sweeping shots of eerily abandoned schools, factories, parks, etc. He also shot up-close shots of the area on foot, despite not knowing for sure the consequences of his work.
“On approaching the zone, I was aware that radiation is an invisible sensation but regardless my body reacted in a psychological way,” Cooke said. “My brain was telling me that perhaps I’d made the wrong choice and this wasn’t such a good idea.”
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