Cleaning up Chernobyl and Canada’s war in the woods

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

On the 40th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, we hear from one man involved in the clean-up operation.

Our guest is Jordan Dunbar, presenter of the BBC documentary ‘The Last Dance Floor in Chernobyl’.

Next, we hear about the worst floods in 50 years that the Mexican state of Tabasco experienced and the race to save thousands of animals in Paraguay and Brazil in 1982.

Plus, the unexpected drought in the Danube River in 2011 and when Canada saw their largest ever campaign of civil disobedience in 1993 to save a rainforest.

In our episode of Sporting Witness, the tale of the 1981 film ‘Escape to Victory’.

Contributors:

Yurіy Skaletskyy – former radiological officer in Soviet Union military

Jordan Dunbar – BBC presenter

Marco Franco – emergency co-ordinator for the Red Cross in Mexico

Dario Perez Chena – rescue worker in the Mymba Kuera operation

Kristian Yakimov - an ecologist and tourist guide in Bulgaria

Tzeporah Berman – environmental activist in Canada

(Photo: Chernobyl in the aftermath of the explosion in 1986. Credit: SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)