"Perhaps the largest mistruth about Chernobyl is the fate of the Chernobyl divers: most accounts (for example: 1, 2, in the top 4 results on Google) say the divers knew they were facing certain death, but donned wetsuits and dove into the radioactive water in the plant’s basement to release the valves to empty the dam underneath the reactor, saving the plant from further destruction.
The water flooding the basement had earlier been drained by firefighters. Some remained, but at its deepest it was only about knee-high. Three men, Ananenko, Baranov, and Bezpalov, entered the basement in order to find the valves that would allow for the draining of the reservoir. They would become known as the famous Chernobyl divers, however perhaps more surprisingly, they would survive.
All three ‘divers’ wore two dosimeters, the valves were found relatively quickly, and they retreated unharmed, for the most part. There are images of two of the divers in hospital, but they do not look..."
Not to discredit these men or the risks they took, they were remarkably brave for doing this to save everyone in ANY amount of radioactive water. But they didn't dive under any water higher than their knees and they certainly didn't die directly from it.
Thank you for doing the research and correcting the mistruth. Just because they didn't die in no way lessens the courage it took or the measure of them. I don't know why so many people feel they need to gild the lilly to make hero stories have a tragic ending
NO CAPES!!
The water flooding the basement had earlier been drained by firefighters. Some remained, but at its deepest it was only about knee-high. Three men, Ananenko, Baranov, and Bezpalov, entered the basement in order to find the valves that would allow for the draining of the reservoir. They would become known as the famous Chernobyl divers, however perhaps more surprisingly, they would survive.
All three ‘divers’ wore two dosimeters, the valves were found relatively quickly, and they retreated unharmed, for the most part. There are images of two of the divers in hospital, but they do not look..."
-http://www.lateralmag.com/columns/sampling-eras/chernobyl-truths