This was the first photo of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

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High radiation destroyed all but one of the first photos.

On April 26, 1986, one of, if not the worst, disaster in the history of nuclear energy use occurred at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant near Pripyat and Chernobyl, when its reactor number 4 exploded. Although the Soviets tried their best to hide it the tragic accidentcould not be silenced for a long time, because within a short time, radioactive clouds were detected in Sweden, which came from the southeast, that is, from the direction of the Soviet Union.

The first pictures of Chernobyl were taken by the Ukrainian engineer, photographer, photojournalist and cameraman Ihor Fedorovich Kosztyin from a helicopter 14 hours after the explosion. Of the twenty photos in the first round, however, only one was usable, after the high radiation destroyed the other photos (during the exposure), and that one also became grainy, although everything can still be seen quite well:

By the way, Kostyyn’s visit to Chernobyl was not permitted by the authorities, so this photo shoot was also a guerilla action, despite this, he later received permission to photograph the site of the disaster, the evacuation of Pripyat residents and the 30-kilometer zone around the power plant. These photos played an important role in making the world aware of the disaster.

Left Ihor Fedorovics Kosztyin, who otherwise was not exposed to lethal radiation during photo shoots, died in a car accident in 2015 at the age of 78

(Source, photo: Historic Vids)

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