Around 160 estimated return to Chernobyl exclusion zone to live

A lamp hangs in a flat which was evacuated after an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the ghost town of Pripyat, Ukraine, April 18, 2016. [Photo/Agencies],

Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in then-Soviet Ukraine, caused by a botched safety test in the fourth reactor of the atomic plant that sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe.

The accident killed 31 right away and forced tens of thousands to flee. The final death toll of those killed by radiation-related illnesses such as cancer is subject to debate.

A Belarusian study estimates the total cancer deaths from the disaster at 115,000, in contrast to the World Health Organisation's estimate of 9,000.

People live in the area continue to eat and drink foods with dangerously high radiation levels.

The 30 km exclusion zone around the Chernobyl reactor remains highly contaminated and unsuitable to live in.

But that matters little to Lozbin, one of around 160 people estimated to have returned to the zone. "What's there to be afraid of?" said Maria's daughter-in-law Oleksandra Lozbin.