A Google Maps user was shocked to find the Street View tool working in abandoned ghost town Chernobyl.
In 1986, Ukraine was thrown into chaos as a nuclear accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine shocked the world.
Thousands of people moved away from Kiev – only 200km away from the site – due to fears of radiation impacting them.
While only 50 people were killed in the original Chernobyl meltdown, the United Nations estimates as many as 4,000 people have died from exposure to its fallout in the years since.
This all happened long before Google Maps, or the internet, were around.
So, Redditers have taken to the online forum to express their shock that the now-abandoned city has been included on Google Map's Street View.
A thread called “anyone noticed that they have google street view in Chernobyl?” sparked conversation earlier this week, with many commenting that they had no idea the ghost city was on the site.
However, many comments on the forum point out that actually, the site has become somewhat of a tourist attraction, and that it appears that Google actually sent its Street View car to the eerie place in 2015.
And, as Broskfisken pointed out: “You can visit Chernobyl, and there are tours going there, so it isn’t that surprising.”
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And Carlitosbahia wrote: “Since it is that dangerous and it is in a kinda isolated area of the world and you have to pay to go there is why more people could use it.
“I mean everyone spends time looking at their own town in street view why they will not do it there in a safety way.”
YouTuber Benjamin Rich, known as Bald and Bankrupt and with 3.26 million subscribers, spends his time taking a unique look at former Soviet Union countries.
His tour of Pripyat – the town where Chernobyl resides – has been seen more than 2.1 million times.
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Brighton-born Mr Rich has also created videos showcasing the people who still live here, having never left when the vast majority did, and what live is like in the smaller towns around the infamous area.
In his latest video, he goes on a tour of Visaginis in Lithuania.
The town was created to house workers at a nuclear plant nearby, which was actually the sister site to the Chernobyl Power Plant. It was closed down when Lithuania joined the European Union – which was part of the terms of it joining – and around 5,000 members of staff were sacked as a result.
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