The accident caused the deaths within a few days or weeks of 30 power plant employees and firemen (including 28 deaths that were due to radiation exposure)

By about 4.50 a.m., most of the fires had been extinguished. These actions caused the deaths of five firefighters.

Among the 134 cases, 28 died within the first four months of the accident. The causes of death are listed in the UNSCEAR 1988 Report, Appendix to Annex G, “Early effects in man of high doses of radiation” [U4]. In the early period (14 23 days after exposure), 15 patients died of skin or intestinal complications and 2 patients died of pneumonitis.Intheperiod24 48daysafterexposure,six deaths from skin or lung injury and two from secondary infections following bone-marrow transplantation occurred. Between 86 and 96 days following the accident, two patients died from secondary infections and one patient from renal failure [U4]. Underlying bone marrow failure was the main contributor to all of these deaths.

There have been eleven deaths between 1987 and 1998 among confirmed acute radiation sickness survivors who received doses of 1.3 5.2 Gy