40 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident, BBC visits the ghost town of Chernobyl

On Sunday, Ukraine marked the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. On April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor of the nuclear power plant exploded, spewing radioactive material and spreading it over a large area of ​​Europe.

The official death toll from Chernobyl in Ukrainian is 31, but the wider impact of the accident remains controversial and difficult to determine.

In 2005, a study by several United Nations agencies concluded that the accident could have killed 4,000 people. Other estimates suggest the number may be higher.

The BBC’s Jessica Parker visited the nearby city of Pripyat, where Chernobyl workers lived but was abandoned shortly after the disaster.