Ukraine reported an increase in radioactivity on Sunday due to a forest fire that broke out the previous day in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of the worst nuclear accident in 1986 history.
"There is bad news: the radioactivity is higher than normal in the heart of the fire," Egor Firsov, head of the ecological inspection service, said on Facebook. He accompanied his message with a video showing a Geiger counter displaying a level of radioactivity 16 times higher than normal.
100 hectares of forest invaded by flames
Flames have invaded more than 100 hectares in the forest plot located around the damaged power station, about a hundred kilometers north of the capital Kiev. The emergency services had initially assured Sunday that there was no increase in radioactivity after having however reported Saturday of "difficulties" in their efforts to overcome the disaster due to an increase in this in some places.
According to authorities, surrounding localities are not in danger
Authorities said the surrounding communities were not in danger. Two planes, a helicopter and a hundred firefighters are mobilized to fight the fire.
The reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl plant exploded on April 26, 1986 contaminating, according to some estimates, up to three-quarters of Europe. After this disaster, the authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and a vast area, covering more than 2,000 square kilometers, remained abandoned.