Chernobyl: Visit to a nuclear ghost town

A picture of a dog and cello are left in the ghost city of Prypyat, near Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

"We live in a Lenin's country," reads a fresco in a school 26 May 2003 of the ghost town of Prypyat, adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear site. Prypyat which had 45,000 residents was totally evacuated in the first three days after the reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant blew up at 1:23am 26 April 1986, spewing out a radioactive cloud and contaminating much of Europe.

An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people have died in the aftermath. Over 2.5 million Ukrainians suffer from health problems related to the Chernobyl blast, with 80,000 of them receiving a pension.

A general view of the sarcophagus over destroyed 4th block of Chernobyl power plant.

A big wheel stands derelict in the ghost city of Prypyat, near Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

A crucifix stands in the ghost city of Prypyat, near Chernobyl nuclear power plant on February 24, 2011 ahead of the 25th anniversary of the meltdown of reactor number four due to be marked on April 26, 2011. Ukraine said early this year it will lift restrictions on tourism around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, formally opening the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident to visitors. Chernobyl's number-four reactor, in what was then the Soviet Union and is now Ukraine, exploded 26 April 1986, sending a radioactive cloud across Europe and becoming the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster.

Following the accident, a concrete sarcophagus was built over the stricken reactor and a new 20,000-ton steel case to cover the whole plant.

A sign reading 'Stop, Forbidden Zone' hangs on a barbed wire fence at the 'border' of the 30-km zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where the world's worst nuclear disaster took place in April 1986, and the 30-km zone around it remain inhabited until now. Japanese crews are now grappling with the world's worst nuclear incident since that incident.

A visitor walks at an abandoned hotel in the ghost city of Prypyat, near Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Ukraine's Emergency ministry started organized official tourist tours to Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the 30km zone around it that remains uninhabited until now.

A man walks past the map of the 30-kms zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in front of Dytyatki admission point on March 16, 2011. The risk of a nuclear meltdown after Japan's earthquake brought back the nightmare of Chernobyl for Ukraine even as experts predicted it would not compare with the world's worst nuclear disaster. With horrific timing, the explosions at Japan's ageing Fukushima nuclear plant after the 8.9-magnitude quake have come just over a month before Ukraine and its neighbours mark on April 26 the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe.

A man walks in front of Dytyatki admission point to the 30-kms zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on March 16, 2011.

An employee of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant walks the halls of the destroyed 4th block of the plant on February 24, 2011 ahead of the 25th anniversary of the meltdown of reactor number four due to be marked on April 26, 2011.

An employee of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant attends to the control panel in the control room of the destroyed 4th block of the plant.

An employee of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant walks in the control room of the destroyed 4th block of the plant.

A wreath is set in the ghost city of Prypyat, near Chernobyl nuclear power plant on February 24, 2011.

A memorial stands outside the nuclear plant at Chernobyl on February 24, 2011 ahead of the 25th anniversary of the meltdown of reactor number four, due to be marked on April 26, 2011.