After he died, Vasily Ignatenko's body was so radioactive that he had to be buried under multiple layers of zinc and concrete in order to protect the public from his corpse.
After he died, Vasily Ignatenko's body was so radioactive that he had to be buried under multiple layers of zinc and concrete in order to protect the public from his corpse. See the horrific photos and learn more about the firefighter who braved the fires of Chernobyl Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko (Ukrainian: Василь Іванович Ігнатенко; Belarusian: Васіль Іванавіч Ігнаценка; Russian: Василий Иванович Игнатенко; 13 March 1961 – 13 May 1986) was a Soviet firefighter and first responder to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Ignatenko was raised on a collective farm near Gomel in the Byelorussian SSR, and worked for a time as an electrician. He became a firefighter in 1980 as part of his service in the Soviet Military, and was employed as a paramilitary firefighter afterwards. On 26 April 1986, Ignatenko's fire brigade was involved in mitigating the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, fighting the fires started by the initial explosion. In the process, Ignatenko received a h...