They still call it 'river disease', even though by now the people who live around the nuclear plant of Mayak, know that it is due to radiation that thousands have died and fallen ill. Even today children are born with defects due to radiation. Interviews by Antoinette De Jong

Here you can read, see and hear the horrific personal stories of some of the victims of the Mayak nuclear complex. Click on the links below for their stories in flash and imminently in text/image formats.

Gusmanov, the tractor driver

Wafir Gusmanov was forced by policemen to help clear up the contaminated banks of the Techa River.
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Ramzis

Ramzis Fayzullin was born disabled. Ramses writes to the Russian Prime Minister about radioactive contamination near Mayak - he hasn't received a reply.
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Kostia

Kostia has Down's Syndrome and had to have his fingers separated at birth. His mother swam in the radioactively contaminated Techa River when she was young.
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Luba at the Kindergarten

Luba teaches at the kindergarten, due to illness there is never full attendance. Her own daughter, Regina, is in urgent need of a heart operation abroad.
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Journalist, Antoinette De Jong, conducted the above interviews on a visit to the Mayak region in September 2001.

Antoinette De Jong has had her articles published widely in the European media. In Holland she works for Marie Claire, weekly magazine Nieuwe Revu and daily newspapers Trouw and Metro. She also works for The Radio Netherlands World Service and VPRO-radio. She has visited Afghanistan regularly since 1993 and has worked in Somalia, Iraq, Bosnia and Cambodia, specifically reporting on humanitarian issues.