Malomuzh instructed Brukhanov to give him a written situation report, which was then drafted by a handful of staff led by the plant Party secretary and brought to the director’s desk at around 10:00 a.m. The document was brief—a single typed page—describing an explosion, the collapse of the roof of the reactor hall, and a fire, which had already been completely extinguished. Thirty-four people involved in the firefighting were being examined in the hospital; nine had suffered thermal burns of varying degrees, and three were in critical condition. One man was missing, and another had died.
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