] To get a clearer idea of what had happened we walked
] outside. What we saw was terrifying. Everything that
] could be destroyed had been. The entire water coolant
] system was gone. The right-hand side of the reactor hall
] had been completely destroyed, and on the left the pipes
] were just hanging. That was when I realised that

This is an incredible read!
] Khodemchuk was definitely dead. The place where I was
] told he'd been standing was in ruins. The huge turbines
] were still standing, but everything around them was
] rubble. He must have been buried under that. From where I
] stood I could see a huge beam of projected light flooding
] up into infinity from the reactor. It was like a laser
] light, caused by the ionisation of the air. It was
] light-bluish, and it was very beautiful. I watched it for
] several seconds. If I'd stood there for just a few
] minutes I would probably have died on the spot because of
] gamma rays and neutrons and everything else that was
] spewing out. But Tregub yanked me around the corner to
] get me out the way. He was older and more experienced.

Interview with Chernobyl Engineer