A teenager from Chernobyl is leaving his orphanage for the first time this week – to visit Ireland.
14-year old Nikita Dudko is among 145 children who will arrive in Shannon Airport today as part of the annual host programme run by Chernobyl Children International.
Since 1991 over 25,000 children have spent the summer months with Irish families – getting a break away from Belarus, the area most badly affected by the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
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The charity’s Adi Roche says during their time here, the childrens’ radiation levels drop by nearly 50 per cent – adding up to two years to their life expectancy.
