The stillness of the night of 26 April 1986 was shattered when Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The explosion and the consequent fire released a massive radioactive plume that soon engulfed the region including the nearby town of Pripyat.
Almost overnight, the 50,000 residents of Pripyat were evacuated. They departed in army trucks with the clothes on their backs and the most prized possessions in bags and suitcases, leaving everything else behind. Following the evacuation, the then Soviet authorities converted an area of 2,600 sq kms into what is now known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Checkpoints were placed at all entry points to ensure that no one, except emergency relief and cleanup crew got in.
30 years later, the exclusion zone remains as is, with Pripyat at its radioactive heart. Scientists estimate that the exclusion zone will not be habitable for humans for over 2000 years. However, every now and then researchers and intrepid journalists, covered in hazmat suits, do make the trip into Pripyat and what comes out are images of an eerie ghost city, a study in an apocalypse that almost was.
Here is a look at what remains:
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