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# 28 years later
VIDEO: Drone captures haunting footage of Chernobyl ghost town
‘Serene and disturbing.’
THE TOWN OF Pripyat was entirely evacuated in April 1986, after the catastrophic accident at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Schools, hotels, even a Ferris wheel and playground were abandoned, leaving behind a chilling reminder of the sudden and life-changing nature of the disaster.
Now, 28 years later, a British filmmaker has visited Pripyat, which only existed for 16 years, after being established in 1970 to accompany the power station.
While working on a ’60 Minutes’ special for American TV network CBS, Danny Cooke went to the ghost town on foot, and used a drone to capture the full scale of the decay.
The results are haunting – as Cooke himself says “serene, yet highly disturbing.”
Here’s part of an abandoned playground, swaying in the wind…
A derelict swimming pool that still has its diving board…
The town’s ferris wheel…
The half-sunken harbour…
And perhaps most tellingly, a floor filled with hundreds of unused gas masks…
Watch for yourself:
Danny Cooke / Vimeo
Read: Defunct and decaying: A look inside Limerick’s Lunatic Asylum>
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