“THERE’S A MELANCHOLIC beauty in every sight throughout the exclusion zone.”

Film director Michael Garrett joined a team of photographers on a trip to Chernobyl last year and says he was “quickly captivated by the place”.

Garrett has since made an eerie film showing the town of Pripyat that was entirely evacuated on 26 April 1986 – after the catastrophic accident at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

His work shows a school, hotel and even a playground that were abandoned almost 30 years ago.

The Chernobyl meltdown produced 200 times more radiation than both atomic bombs that dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

However, more than one million children continue to live in the contaminated zones, with 6,000 children born with heart defects in Ukraine every year.

Garret said, “A lot of public interest in Chernobyl is focussed on the stunning decay of the exclusion zone, but the ongoing health problems associated with the disaster are often overlooked.

I wanted to pair my footage with some information about Chernobyl’s present-day state, the aim of which being to raise awareness about the difficulties faced by children and families plagued by radiation-caused health problems including ‘Chernobyl Heart’.

“Hopefully the amazing sights captured in the video will catch some of the public’s attention and leave them with a little more awareness about the good work being done by CCI.”

The explosion in 1986 released just 3% of the radioactive material in the Chernobyl reactor into the atmosphere.

The remaining 97% , contained only by a deteriorating concrete shell, remains inside the damaged reactor and continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous “ticking time-bombs” according to Chernobyl Children International.

Environmentalists, writers and film makers are taking part in the charity’s campaign to mark the 30th anniversary of the deadly nuclear accident. The awareness campaign will be called “Chernobyl is Forever”.

Read: Check out these amazing photos of the wildlife thriving in Chernobyl’s fallout zone>

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