The Total Death Is Unknown
The total number of people that died as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster remains unknown. It is a matter of debate and speculation. The death toll from Chernobyl is difficult to estimate because many people did not die immediately after the explosion.
Other deaths may be traceable to Chernobyl even after the last person alive on the day of the explosion dies, due to the radiation that has entered the food chain. If the deaths follow a pattern similar to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic explosions in Japan, the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer research arm estimates that 9,000 individuals will die from Chernobyl-related cancer and leukemia. The official Soviet count is 31, but the true figure is likely to be in the thousands, if not millions.
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 4,000 to 27,000 people perished as a result of the accident, whereas Greenpeace says that 93,000 to 200,000 people died. Others believe the figure is even higher.
