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On our way here, myself and my cameraman tried to establish how many times we had been to the zone

Author: Alexey Yaroshevsky

Published: 30 March 2011

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The plan for the first day was scrambled

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Radiation levels here are not that strong – below ten times the human norm

On our way here, myself and my cameraman tried to establish how many times we had been to the zone

It was only five days later that I finally received an answer from one of the re-settlers

They have returned home – and that’s the only thing which mattered to them

It seems that they don’t care about the invisible and unavoidable threat of the radiation

Having had little luck with the re-settlers, we went to the deserted railway station of Yanov

Some of the machinery still works, and there are people operating it

All passengers of the two trains were later equated to the Chernobyl liquidators

Yanov is, to my mind, one of the most boring locations in the zone

Assorted shoes brought to this workshop to be fixed, but never taken back

The wooden handrail did not survive decades of desolation

The place is slowly consumed by wild nature

This cafe with colorful windows was the town's most popular hang out

The name “Pripyat” in arty-crafty font is set atop

The park was reportedly opened ahead of schedule to distract people from rumors of the disaster

Aleksey Yaroshevsky in front of the camera

The Ferris wheel is one of the best-known features of the ghost-town

Pripyat hospital received injured firefighters and engineers

How this chair ended up here remains a mystery

Calendar pages rendered useless by the disaster

Shooting in this location was particularly difficult

Residents were preparing to celebrate Victory Day

Pay phone box – its interior probably taken by some scavenger

Rubble everywhere – a view one expects from a long-neglected building

Hundreds of undelivered letters left to fade

Frankly speaking, I lost count after the 10th time. But this time our trip was different – simply because all our previous journeys to the dead land had been a one-day experience. This time we got the chance to be there from dawn to dusk. The thought of us spending an entire week in the radioactive area may have made some of our friends and relatives shiver, but we knew that unless we deliberately risked our health going into “dirty” areas, we should be fine.

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