
These poignant images capture the emotional moment residents returned to Chernobyl for the first time - 30 years after they fled the world's worst nuclear disaster.

Haunting pictures show people revisiting their homes and places of work in the Ukrainian city of Prypyat, which was evacuated in April 1986 following a botched test at the nuclear plant nearby.

Many of the buildings, including an empty swimming baths, residential tower blocks, cafes and municipal offices, lie in ruins having been abandoned for three decade.

Photographer Alina Rudya, who now lives in Berlin, Germany, was only one-year-old when she was forced to leave Prypyat following the meltdown, which spewed deadly clouds of atomic material into the atmosphere.

Her picture project, called Prypat mon Amour, shares emotional stories of evacuees and shows them revisiting the eerily empty town.

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Photographer Alina Rudya is pictured on the terrace on the top of the Polissya restaurant. She said her father took her mother on a date here when she came to visit him for the first time

From 1980 to 1986, this woman, known only as Lydia lived in Prypyat, where she worked at the Energetik Palace of Culture. She is pictured revisiting her work place

Another resident, Olexiy, is pictured at a swimming pool called Azure. He had taken a course at the swimming baths to become a diving instructor - but never finished because of the disaster

Olexiy is pictured looking out of the dormitory where he lived on arriving in Prypyat. He was born in the region of Kuban, Russia. He moved to Prypyat from early June 1982 until 2 a.m. on April 29, 1986, when the evacuation started

A former resident called Ekaterina is shown revisiting Cafe Prypyat, where she got married to her husband, Sergei. Both of them worked at Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Sergei's father was even the foreman of a building site during the plant's construction

Pictures show some of the empty apartments in Prypyat. Former resident 'Viktor' said he once lived on the 14th floor of one of the buildings. He came to live in Prypyat and worked at Chernobyl as an engineer in the research department

Marina, Alina Rudya's mother is pictured on Lenin Avenue, the main street of Prypyat. Once a busy road, it is now overgrown with weeds and trees

Yuriy was born in the city of Prypyat on April 2, 1976 and was evacuated two days after the accident. This picture shows him looking out over the sports stadium - a place where he said he had his most vivid memories

Lydia gave birth to her daughter Valentina in this hospital in Prypyat. The pair are pictured together in the ruins of the hospital's waiting room

Reflective: Pictures show the colourful glass windows of one of the many cafes that were abandoned when the city was evacuated in 1986

Another former resident, Roman, looks around Prypyat with a Ferris wheel in the background. He was born in Prypyat in 1980

Emotional: Galina served in the militia as a police officer in Prypyat. She is pictured right revisiting the Prypyat Internal Affairs Department. her daughter Oksana is shown left

An emotional Valentina puts her hand over her mouth during her return to Prypyat, where she lived with husband Leonid and son Roman

Valentina and her husband Leonid and son Roman are pictured in a dark hallway in their old apartment in Prypyat

Leonid is pictured revisiting his old family home in Prypyat. He was one of the many resident who worked at the power plant

Family history: A photograph of Alina Rudya and her mother Marina on the floor of their old apartment in Prypyat

Olexiy shared a picture of his wedding as part of the project, which the photographer called Prypyat mon Amour

A family photograph from Galina and her eldest Daughter Oksana, who was 11-years-old when the disaster happened