Chernobyl Has Caused Ailments For 220,000

More than 220,000 Belarussians have suffered physical ailments as a result of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, according to a new government report.

The report also found that almost a quarter of Belarus remains contaminated from world’s worst commercial nuclear power disaster, officials said Monday.

Belarus’ Emergency Situations Ministry said the number of cases of leukemia, thyroid cancers and tumors in the former Soviet republic is still climbing years after the explosion in neighboring Ukraine.

In fact, the worst of the contamination is along Belarus’ southern border with Ukraine, an area with 1.8 million people, the Interfax news agency said, citing the report.