The World's Most Radiated River [in Photographs]

I would like to share with you an absolutely tremendous picture story by Robert Knoth, a freelance photographer, who is also an author of "Certificate no. 000358", a book which documents the impact of nuclear disasters on people in the former USSR.

You can find more photographs by clicking the link above..

Kostya has Down syndrome, is sick often and had to have his fingers separated through surgery. His mother Ludmilla swam in Techa River when she was young, the village was contaminated by the explosion in 1957.

Alexander has a mental handicap and lives in an orphanage. Many children in the region are born with mental problems due to the high doses of radiation their parents received. Few parents can financially support their sick children.

Karl Marx Street in Muslumovo. This is one of the main streets of the village close to Techa River. The street is almost totally abandoned because radiation levels are too high.

"I don't like to go to school, because the boys call me bad names. I would like to court the girls, but they shun me and donít want to go out with me. I hope I will not have children who look like me"