Tiraspol, 26 April. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A memorial plaque has been inaugurated today to commemorate the liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. It was placed on the wall of the city's military registration and enlistment office to mark the place from which some Tiraspol residents began their terrible way. Not all of them managed to return.
«Among them were 14th Guard's Army military, law enforcers, fire fighters, medical personnel, signalmen and people of various peaceful occupations. Although they had families, they realised where they were going — some of them made a step to eternity, and some to infinity, and others to many days of pain and sufferings," said Natalya Nikiforova, the deputy head of the Tiraspol State Administration on social policy.
Of more than 800,000 liquidators, 724 people came from Pridnestrovie. Today only 350 of them are still alive, and 142 live in Tiraspol. It was emphasised during the rally that their deed cannot be forgotten — but for them, the death toll could be much higher.
«The first casualties were, of course, fire fighters who started to extinguish the fire at the power plant, and it is them who prevented the second blast of the nuclear reactor, which was very likely. Those who participated in the liquidation of this accident finally gave up their lives," underscored the chair of the Supreme Council, Vadim Krasnoselsky.
On the day of the 30th anniversary direct participants recalled those events.
«I was the commander of a signal company and coordinated people who took direct participation in the decontamination and degassing of Pripyat city. They were my elder brothers and fathers (I was the youngest among them) who knew much more than I did about radiation. This is a terrible tragedy which must not forget," said a liquidator of the Chernobyl disaster, Vladimir Ivaninchenko.
«Years have passed, many of us have died, many are ill and experience difficulties in overcoming hardships in our country," added the deputy chair of Tiraspol's Chernobyl society, Andrey Penochkin.
A minute of silence was observed in tribute to the memory of accident liquidators.
