Former residents return to Chernobyl town for the first time in 33 years

Pripyat was only 3km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Photo / AP

Around 50,000 people once called the city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine home.

That was until April 26, 1986, when the community was thrust into the spotlight of the world.

It was that day that a safety test went wrong and led to an explosion in reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant – a facility that lay just 3km from the city.

Pripyat was evacuated, but that didn't happen until 36 hours after the explosion.

Yesterday marked the city's 50th anniversary. Photo / AP

Frantically, residents left but they were not allowed to take many belongings, including family pets, for fear of contamination.

What they left behind is a city that today appears frozen in time.

Pripyat was only 3km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Photo / AP

This week, Pripyat was supposed to celebrate its 50th anniversary. There wasn't much fanfare to mark the occasion, but the milestone saw some former residents return to the city for the first time since their evacuation over 30 years ago.

A former supermarket in Pripyat. Photo / AP

Creepy pictures from inside the city show how many of them were greeted by reminders of their childhood.

They show a city park with a ferris wheel stopped forever and supermarkets taken over by nature.

Houses in the deserted town of Pripyat. Photo / AP

Portraits of Soviet leaders are covered by radioactive dust in a club. Photo / AP

Today Chernobyl is the largest tourist drawcard in modern Ukraine, with more than 60,000 visitors last year – but a trip to the exclusion zone is not without its risks.

Ukrainian officials estimate the area won't be safe for human habitation for at least 20,000 years.

The city has become a major tourist drawcard. Photo / AP