During the night of 26 April 1986 and in the following months, one million people ... called liquidators ... were sent to cover up the reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power station with a "˜sarcofagus' and try to limit the consequences of the catastrophy. They worked in frightnening conditions, handling the radioactive material with bare hands and with the help of spades and jets of water. If the nucleus had not been under control by the 8th May, there would have been an atomic explosion that would have made Europe impossible to live in. The target was achieved on the 6th May but who now remembers the sacrifice of those men?
