27 Years Later: Chernobyl's Abandoned Hospital

Twenty seven years after the world's worst nuclear accident at the Chernobyl power station, an abandoned hospital sits barren after it was left to fall into ruin. Once a modern care facility, the site stands untouched, 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. 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 symbolized 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.

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, mold and peeling paint which exposes the decaying walls

Once bright and inviting, the blue paint in the ground floor corridor peels off the walls.

A common room in the hospital once provided an area for patients to socialize. Now it has been left to ruin with debris on the ground and exposed beams on the ceiling

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 examination chair abandoned on the hospital grounds

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

Photos and info from the DailyMail