Inside Chernobyl’s abandoned hospital, 27 years after Ukrainian nuclear plant went into meltdown

By NADIA GILANI

The once modern care facility stands untouched exactly as it was left decades after a test at nuclear power plant failed
The former inpatient hospital contained three clinics, a laboratory building and had a capacity of 400 patients
At least 28 people have died of acute radiation sickness from close exposure to the shattered reactor
More than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in people who as children or adolescents, were exposed to high levels of fallout after the blast

Twenty seven years since the world's worst nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power station, an abandoned hospital is still barren after it was left to fall into ruin.
Once a modern care facility, the site stands untouched as it was decades ago after the accident, containing damaged furniture, broken beds, and unwashed mattresses in different rooms.
The disaster took place at around midnight on April 26, 1986 when engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant conducted a test of reactor number four.

Trees have started to grow in front of the hospital's entrance years after the radiation damaged their sense of orientation, leaving them to grow crooked in all directions
What was once an inviting entry into the hospital premises, its lobby, which contains damaged furniture is now home to rust, mould and peeling paint which exposes the decaying walls

A common room in the hospital once provided an area for patients to socialise. Now it has been left to ruin with debris on the ground and exposed beams on the ceiling
The test went wrong and the resulting blast spewed a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
The most heavily hit areas in Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia immediately became part of a large contaminated exclusion zone.

The city of Pripyat, once home to 50,000 citizens, which stands in the centre of the zone had once been an area that symbolised progress but is now a ghost town.

The city contained schools, public sporting grounds, shops, a cultural centre, and the large hospital. The former inpatient facility contained three clinics, a laboratory building and had a capacity of 400 patients.
Many people were treated there for radiation sickness after the accident until the city could be evacuated.

Once bright and inviting, the blue paint in the ground floor corridor peels off the walls, pictured left, while an examination chair, pictured right has been left in the hospital's grounds

These large boards in the triage area of the hospital were used to display which members of staff were on duty. Now there are shattered bits of broken wall and what appears to be an abandoned bath tub in the space
The 'zone', which is some 60 miles from the Ukrainian capital Kiev, has been described as one of the 'world's unique places to visit' by U.S. magazine Forbes.
These images were taken by Timm Suess, a photographer from Switzerland who specialises in taking pictures of abandoned and decaying structures.
His photographic projects have taken him to abandoned factories, clinics, hotels and ghost towns across Europe in Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Ukraine.
The hospital and its grounds have become a tourist hotspot and attracted 7,500 visitors in 2009. Tourists pay £100 a day to visit the site, where radiation levels are thought to be around 35 times higher than normal.
After signing a form agreeing to anti-contamination rules such as not eating and smoking within the site, visitors are ferried by buses to the entrance of the zone, which is only open to those on tours or with special permission.

A broken bed-frame and bedside cabinets have been left by an open window, while once bright blue paint peels off the surrounding walls in a hospital ward. Shattered glass from the window litters the floor

The rusty skeleton of crib remains in the hospital's maternity ward as paint peels off the walls. Once a modern care facility, the site stands untouched as it was decades ago after the accident

A flattened dust-covered water bottle lies strewn on a mattress left on the ground alongside several black and white pieces of a chess set. At least 28 people have died of acute radiation sickness from close exposure to the shattered reactor
In April last year a doctor treating Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov who bas battled cancer said the disease was caused by radiation from the nuclear disaster.
The 33-year-old footballer was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in May 2012. He is now in remission from the illness.
Dr Mihail Iliev, who treated Petrov for 14 years in his capacity as Bulgarian national team medic, blamed a toxic radiation cloud the star was exposed to when he was just six years old.
In November last year, workers started on a project to build a giant structure that will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station.

A display containing signs reminding visitors and staff how best to prevent injury and infection. The most heavily hit areas became part of a large contaminated exclusion zone

This sign still fixed to the wall translates as 'resuscitation'. The disaster took place at around midnight when engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant conducted a test

An overturned bed frame lies rusty with what appears to be a broken lamp overhead and small basin to the right. Workers started on a project to build a giant structure that will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the power station
The shelter is to be moved over the reactor building by the end of 2015 - a deadline that no one wants to miss given that the so-called sarcophagus hastily built over the reactor building after the 1986 explosion has an estimated service life of about 30 years.
The new structure will form part of a £1.2bn project to clean up the damage caused by the world's worst nuclear accident, which led to more than 6,000 cases of cancer and 115,000 forced evacuations.
A 30km area directly around the plant remains largely off-limits and Pripyat, where the plant's workers once lived, today is completely deserted.
At least 28 people have died of acute radiation sickness from close exposure to the shattered reactor and more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in people who, as children or adolescents, were exposed to high levels of fallout after the blast.

The city of Pripyat, once home to 50,000 citizens, which stands in the centre of the zone had once been an area that symbolised progress but is now a ghost town

Once a modern care facility, the site stands untouched as it was decades ago after the accident, containing damaged furniture, broken beds, and unwashed mattresses in different rooms

The nuclear power plant can be seen in the distance over the hospital's rooftop, pictured left. A new shelter being built is to be moved over the reactor building by the end of 2015