• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Rare photos show Earth's fatal hotspot that can kill any human standing nearby in just five minutes

Home> News> World News

Published 14:56 6 Sep 2024 GMT+1

Rare photos show Earth's fatal hotspot that can kill any human standing nearby in just five minutes

Harrowing photos of the lethal area reveal how dangerous it is to be near the hotspot

Joshua Nair

Joshua Nair

Featured Image Credit: SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images / Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Topics: Chernobyl, Science, Health, History

Joshua Nair
Joshua Nair

Joshua Nair is a journalist at LADbible. Born in Malaysia and raised in Dubai, he has always been interested in writing about a range of subjects, from sports to trending pop culture news. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in Media, Journalism and Publishing, he got a job freelance writing for SPORTbible while working in marketing before landing a full-time role at LADbible. Unfortunately, he's unhealthily obsessed with Manchester United, which takes its toll on his mental and physical health. Daily.

X

@joshnair10

Advert

Advert

Advert

There's a spot on Earth that is so dangerous, it could kill someone if they stood nearby for just five minutes.

And the story behind it is haunting.

A lot of things on our blue planet can be dangerous towards us humans, but something we can't really avoid is radiation.

Advert

No, I'm not talking about generating electricity for all of our technology, I mean the radiation that can be caused by the use of weapons, which can leave everlasting effects on certain areas of the world.

Nuclear weapons are bad, but the biggest tragedy related to this isn't to do with weapons at all, and it occurred in Chernobyl after a tragic power plant explosion in Pripyat, Ukraine.

The Chernobyl power plant is at the heart of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which is largely uninhabited (SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
The Chernobyl power plant is at the heart of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which is largely uninhabited (SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

What was the Chernobyl disaster?

At a nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl on 26 April, 1986, reactor number four exploded during a failed steam test, killing 30 people instantly.

Advert

Radiation released could be detected in countries as far as Sweden, while several civilians and workers in the area would go on to die from severe radiation poisoning, while others died from other health issues and terminal illnesses from the unsafe levels of radiation put into the atmosphere.

It is still by far and away the worst nuclear disaster in human history, reportedly costing governments around $700 million (£532 million) to deal with, while the area is uninhabitable.

The 'Elephant's Foot'

Known as the most dangerous object on the planet, it was caused by the Chernobyl disaster as a large hunk formed at the bottom of the reactor, which was caused by uranium fuel becoming molten when it overheated.

Steam blew the reactor apart, as heat, steam and molten nuclear fuel combined to make a 100-ton flow of dangerous chemicals that poured out of the reactor and through to the basement of the plant, solidifying and being given the name the 'Elephant's Foot', resembling one.

Advert

Being near the Elephant's Foot for too long could kill you (Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Being near the Elephant's Foot for too long could kill you (Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Why is it so dangerous?

People soon realised after the explosion that it shouldn't be approached for a while, as the radioactive lump continued to sear for months.

When measured, the Elephant's Foot released almost 10,000 roentgens per hour, equivalent to the exposure given by four and a half million chest X-rays.

It's is incredibly dangerous, with photos of people near the hotspot showcasing some of the bravest scientists out there, putting their lives at risk to better understand the Elephant's Foot.

Advert

According to science magazine Nautilus, 30 seconds of exposure would have your cells haemorrhaging, and in just four minutes, violent vomiting and diarrhoea would hit, and if you got to five minutes in the lump's vicinity, you;d die within two days.

Studies on the Elephant's Foot

People have chosen to visit and study the site for short periods of time, and while it is still cooling down, the Elephant's Foot is incredibly dangerous to be around, as scientists have only taken the smallest of samples to carry studies out on.

The Elephant's Foot remains entombed in the New Safe Confinement (NSC) that was slid over Chernobyl to prevent any more radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant.

Choose your content:

10 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
3 hours ago
  • 10 mins ago

    WW3 tensions rise as Iran makes chilling threat to UK amid ongoing conflict

    Brits have been advised not to travel to Israel given the conflict

    News
  • an hour ago

    Dad of two dies after brain tumour symptoms ‘misdiagnosed as depression’

    Jamie struggled to remember footballers' names from his favourite team as his symptoms worsened

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    British man's heartbreaking final words to his family just moments before tragic Air India crash

    Ramesh Patel was one of 53 Brits on board Air India flight AI171

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    British Air India crash survivor reveals how he 'just walked out' of burning plane as he provides update

    Viswash Kumar Ramesh remembered walking out of the wreckage after the Air India flight crashed into a hostel

    News
  • Why most dangerous object in the world is so deadly it can kill after being in a room with it for five minutes
  • Scientific reason why you wake up just five minutes before your alarm goes off
  • Most dangerous object on Earth that can kill in two days just by being in a room with it for five minutes