1) Milana is a 4-year-old girl born in Gomel, Belarus who has a rare muscle-wasting condition likely caused by the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster. She has almost no muscle function and will never be able to go to school. 2) Two teenage brothers, Bagdan and Matvi, also live in Gomel and have the same debilitating muscle-wasting disease from Chernobyl radiation. Their limbs are thin and fragile. 3) The Chernobyl disaster caused an 80% increase in disabled births in the areas surrounding the plant, including Gomel. Bone and muscle disorders increased 62% and nervous system conditions 43% after

1. DM1ST
34 DAILYMIRROR SATURDAY 30.04.2016
inevitablyaseverely
shortened life,
Milana’s only view of
the outside world will
be through the grubby
window of her family’s fifth
floor tower block flat.
A short drive across
townarebrothersBagdan
and Matvi Yanochkiny, who have the
same debilitating disease.
On cushions in the living room, their
witheredarmsandlegslookmereskinand
bone.Theirlimbsaresobrittletheywould
snap under the lightest pressure.
They are teenagers but they seem as
vuln
strict
throu
neve
Mo
forB
says
thyro
“I
me t
mon
every
when
“M
But t
answ
DM1ST
30 YEARS ON: H
R
ESTINGlimplyinhermother’sarms
from dawn until dusk, frail Milana
Asonova can never hope to join
playgroundgames.Theprettyfour-
year-old was born with a rare muscle-
wasting condition that, in most places,
affects one in 6,000 children.
InthecityofGomelinBelarus,however,
the number of babies being born disabled
is markedly higher since the nuclear
explosion 70 miles away in Chernobyl.
The devastating accident, which
happened 30 years ago this week, is said
tohavecausedan80%increaseindisabled
births in this blighted corner of Europe.
Though the surge in thyroid cancer
cases here is well documented, the sheer
scale of thehealthcrisis is fargreaterthan
previously feared.
One study showed bone and muscle
disorders were up 62% five years after the
reactor meltdown, while nervous system
conditions increased by 43%.
Lingering radioactivity, dispersed by
wind and heavy rainfall in the days after
the catastrophe, means huge swathes of
landaroundGomelremainuninhabitable.
Contamination was as bad as in the
20-mile exclusion zone around the power
station, from which 138,000 people were
evacuated.YetGomelretainsapopulation
of half a million. These are people who
could not afford to move away.
Milana’s genetic disease, a type of
myopathy,wasinheritedfromhermother
Olga, who was born in Gomel three years
after the disaster in Chernobyl, which is
to the south in Ukraine. Previously, Olga’s
family had no history of the disability.
Thegirlhasalmost nomuscle function,
which prevents her moving around and
even sitting down on a chair. Worse still,
her diaphragm muscle does not work,
creating severe breathing problems and
stopherfromcoughing.Eventually,allher
muscles will seize up.
O
lga, 27, says: “She is a very bright
girl. She enjoys singing nursery
rhymes and songs. She likes
drawing and playing with little
toys. But she will never be able to go
nursery or school. She is far too weak.
“There were no problems during my
pregnancy and, when she was born, we
thought she was a healthy baby girl. But
then her development just stopped.
“Of course, it is our suspicion that what
has happened to her is the result of
Chernobyl, though there is no way we can
prove this. It is in the ecology of this area.”
A first in human history, the people of
Gomelarelivinganunwantedexperiment.
They are guinea pigs giving doctors
an insight into what happens
if you live permanently
in a place affected by a
nuclear holocaust.
The amount of
radiationreleasedby
Chernobyl was
approximately 200
times higher than
the combined
radiationreleasesof
the atom bombs
droppedonNagasaki
andHiroshimain1945.
A fire raged at the
plant for 10 days after the
reactormeltdownonApril26,
sending huge amounts of
radioactive material into
the surrounding area,
most of all in land next to Gomel.
Levels of radiation that are too low to
kill a human body cell can still cause
damage by disrupting the DNA. Babies
born to mothers exposed to radiation
during pregnancy are much more likely to
be born with disabilities. For what will be
T
G
o
e
w
w
e
th
n
VICTIM Bagdan, 15, is suffering from
myopathy, a rare muscular disorder
ABANDONED Blind Anton, 21, was
found in a kennel at the age of two
EXCLUSIVEBY TOM PAPP RRYRR
SeniorFeatureWriterinGomel,Belarus
REUNITED Ira with mum Natasha
DM1ST
SATURDAY 30.04.2016 DAILYMIRROR 39mirror.co.uk
nerable as newborns. Both have a
tly liquid diet because their thoraxes,
ugh which solid food passes, have
er properly grown.
otherYvgenia,40,isapermanentcarer
agdan,15,and13-year-oldMatvi.She
: “I had serious problems with my
oid gland after Chernobyl.
took medicines but my parents sent
o a place on the Black Sea for several
nths. When I came back, I thought
ything was OK. There were no tests
nIwaspregnant,soitwasunexpected.
Myfirstthoughtwas,‘IsthisChernobyl?’
that is a question we will never get an
wer to. No one will tell me they are ill
because of radioactivity.” The chronically
mishandled panic following the worst
nuclear disaster in history saw many
children born in southern Belarus aban-
donedbyparentsortakenintoinstitutions.
I
ra Roshkova was born the year after
Chernobyl, with severely deformed
stumparmsandlegswithfeetthattwist
inwards. Her mother Natasha, 51, from
a village near Gomel, had received more
than a lifetime’s safe dose of radiation
within three to four years of the accident.
When Ira was born, there was no one
present to provide Natasha with advice.
Instead, the mum claims that the
authoritiessimplysnatchedIraawayfrom
her in the delivery suite.
They were reunited only recently and
now live in a bleak village on the edge of a
radioactivity hot-zone.
At the end of a day of heartbreaking
encounters,comesseverelyautisticAnton
Bobr,21,whoisblindandunabletospeak.
He lives at a home funded by British
charity Chernobyl Children’s Project with
threeotherdisabledyoungadults.Acarer
is pouring water over his hands to soothe
him. No one knows who Anton’s parents
are. He was found, aged about two, inside
a dog kennel in a village near Gomel. How
he got there is unknown. They believe the
dogs were bringing him food.
NatashaSamoilik,fromthecharity,says:
“He had no identity documents. He was a
wildchild,likeMowgliinTheJungleBook.
Itisincrediblethathelived.Manychildren
with birth defects were just abandoned.”
As I leave, Anton is swaying in the
doorway, smiling as he listens to his
favourite classical music. A miracle boy
who has somehow cheated a terrible fate
decreed by Chernobyl’s toxic cloud.
YoucandonatetoChernobylChildren’su
Projectatwww.chernobyl-children.org.uk
tom.parry@mirror.co.uk
GRIM Tom with sign warning of radiation
EMPTY Abandoned home is rY otting away
Despair&decay
indangerzone
p y
THE sign at the edge of the silver birch
forest says, Danger: Radiation.
Down a little-used track are rows of
abandoned homes, collapsing and
slowly being reclaimed by nature.
This apocalyptic landscape in
southern Belarus is haunted by the
ghosts of those who fled when
Chernobyl sowed its radioactive seed.
This is the periphery of the exclusion
zone created by the disaster in
neighbouring Ukraine, where the
138,000 residents of 470 villages were
evacuated and resettled.
In the place where I encounter
53-year-old mum-of-three Alla Antoninko,
no one was forced to leave; they took the
decision themselves when the scale of the
contamination became clear.
We meet at the end of a row of
dilapidated homes in one of the
radioactive hotspots dotted around this
region. Crunching over roof slates that
have slid to the ground, I peer into gutted
cottages where furniture lies rotting.
Alla travels here from Gomel once a
month to stop her family home falling into
disrepair. “I hope it will be safe again one
day,” she says. “This is such a beautiful
area but no one would want to live here
permanently until we know for sure the
radiation is back to normal levels.”
She may have a long wait...
A study out this week revealed that a
sample of Belarusian milk contained a
radioactive isotope at levels 10 times
above the nation’s food safety limits.
The samples came from a farm close to
the 850 square mile exclusion zone.
Dr Yuri Bandazhevsky, who was jailed in
Belarus for criticising the government’s
approach to Chernobyl fallout, said: “In
Belarus, there is no protection of the
population from radiation exposure.
“The government is trying to persuade
people not to pay attention to radiation,
and food is grown in contaminated areas
and sent to all points in the country.”
Pictures: ANDY
STENNING
HORRIFIC LEGACY OF CHERNOBYL
Thepeopleof
Gomelarepart
ofanunwanted
experiment...
whathappens
whenyoulive
everydayin
hefalloutofa
nuclearholocaust
BATTLER Milana,
who has myopathy,
and her mum Olga
DISASTER SITE The
nuclear plant at Chernobyl