A Chernobyl 'suicide squad' of volunteers helped save Europe — here's their amazing true story
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
- The Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster occurred on April 26, 1986.
- One of four nuclear reactors exploded, spreading hundreds of times more radioactive fallout than either nuclear bomb dropped on Japan during World War II.
- Volunteers sometimes called the "suicide squad" helped prevent a second explosion that may have melted down the entire complex.
- A full meltdown may have spread fallout across half of Europe.
It's been 32 years since the Chernobyl disaster, a nuclear reactor meltdown caused by a mix of design flaws and human error.
The event immediately killed dozens and scarred the lives of tens of thousands of people over the ensuing decades.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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See Also:
- 30 years after the Chernobyl disaster, no people can live in the area — but the animal population is thriving
- Radioactive boars are taking over this nuclear wasteland — and that's just the start of the problem
- 17 photos that show what the radioactive area around Chernobyl looks like today, 30 years after the explosion
SEE ALSO: 16 people who helped with the Chernobyl cleanup share their devastating first-hand accounts
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