Tributes paid to Chernobyl's 'unsung heroes'

Tens of thousands of firefighters died as a result of their efforts to stop an atomic explosion at Chernobyl which would have made Europe uninhabitable, it was claimed today.

On the 19th anniversary of the explosion, the Chernobyl Children’s Project International said that fires at the nuclear plant could have triggered a nuclear explosion of 50 to 80 times the force of Hiroshima.