Today in History - April 26: Three volunteers stepped up for task they were told would kill them
A safety test mistake at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in modern-day Ukraine caused the worst nuclear accident in history on April 26, 1986.
For days after the explosion, radioactive smoke and steam poured out from the reactor, spreading radiation all over Europe, especially neighbouring Belarus.
Thousands of deaths have been attributed to cancer caused by the leaking radiation.
Three men were credited with a particular act of courage on May 4, 1986.
Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bezpalov, and Boris Baranov walked through knee-deep radioactive water under the reactor to drain the flooded water, averting a much worse meltdown.
The three were told there was a good chance they would die in the process.
It was widely reported that Ananenko, Bezpalov and Baranov died soon after their successful mission.
But Baranov lived until 2005, and the other two are still alive.
A 2600 square kilometre exclusion zone remains in place around Chernobyl, where radiation is still so dangerous that staying there could prove fatal.
Since then the area has been reclaimed by nature.
The Spanish town of Guernica was levelled in one of the first aerial bombings to target a civilian population on April 26, 1937.
Acting on the behest of the Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War, German and Italian bombers bombed the town.
As many as 1600 people were killed in the attack.
The Basque town was being used as a communications centre by Republican forces, and the Nationalists argued the bombing was legitimate.
Nevertheless, it was decried internationally, and inspired the most famous anti-war painting of all time.
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso started work on his large artwork Guernica a few days later.
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