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Natural disasters

Wildfire near Chernobyl nuclear disaster site put out

Radiation levels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and neighbouring regions are safe

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk flies in a helicopter over a forest fire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Apr. 28 EPA/TASS/ANDREW KRAVCHENKO / POOL

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk flies in a helicopter over a forest fire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Apr. 28

© EPA/TASS/ANDREW KRAVCHENKO / POOL

KIEV, April 30. /TASS/. The forest fire that broke out near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster has finally been extingished, a deputy head of the Ukrainian emergencies service said on Thursday.

"The state emergencies service has extinguished the fire in the [Chernobyl] exclusion zone," Nikolay Chechetkin said adding that the country's Interior Ministry would investigates the causes of the blaze.

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More than 300 people and 51 fire engines were involved in the firefighting effort.

Radiation levels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and neighbouring regions are safe, the emergencies service said.

The exclusion zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 square kilometers around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

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Wildfires Natural disasters

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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