The world’s leading authority on the impact of the Chernobyl disaster has escaped the war in Ukraine and now wants to create a research centre in Mayo.
Professor Yury Bandazhevsky will hold a press conference in Castlebar next Tuesday to ask the world to support the project and enable him continue his ground-breaking work on the impact of radiation poisoning.
“It is my life’s work. It is hugely important for the whole world, and I want the centre to be here in Mayo, where there is no interference, no dark cloud and no denials,” Bandazhevsky said.
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The professor and his family arrived in Ireland last Thursday after being persuaded to leave war-torn Ukraine by Lily Luzan, of the Mayo-based Candle of Grace charity.
Ms Luzan said: “He didn’t want to leave his research records behind. He has worked on this day and night for 35 years and has thousands and thousands of files on the children of Chernobyl. I was so scared that he’d be killed by a bomb. If that happened all his knowledge, all his years of work would be lost, so we begged him to get out and come to Mayo. We are hoping to get his records safely out as soon as possible too.”
Ms Luzan is passionate about the work of the professor, as she and her family were living close to the Chernobyl nuclear facility on April 26, 1986, when explosions and a fire caused a catastrophic radiation leak.
She added: “I remember us outside playing the following days, amazed by the weird rainbow colours in the puddles after it rained. Some of the kids were putting their hands into the puddles trying to figure out what the beautiful colours were. We didn’t know the terrible poison that was falling in the rain and floating in the breeze. We weren’t told about the disaster until May 2.
“The professor is the greatest man alive. All he cares about is people and helping them. He is so brave and wants to help people so much and has suffered a lot in life fighting for the children of Chernobyl.
“That’s why he wants to build the research and treatment centre in Mayo where he will be free to work and help the world.”
Bandazhevsky, a native of Belarus has been awarded citizenship of France and the honorary freedom of 21 European cities for his unstinting work researching the impact of radiation poisoning.
Today, his immediate priority is to evacuate all children from the Chernobyl zone and he is asking the Irish government and the European Union for their assistance.
He said: “All I want to do is help the people and tell the world about the situation and how it’s as bad now as ever before, following the fires in the area in 2020 and the bombing there in recent weeks.
“I want the world to get the children out of there. We must save the victims of the war in the Chernobyl area and get them to safety, and I will be saying that on April 26, as well as telling everyone about the centre we want to build in Mayo.”
Professor Bandazhevky and Candle of Grace charity will host a conference in The TF Royal, Castlebar next Tuesday, the 36th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
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