Soviet Pilot Who Tried to Douse Chernobyl Dies

Anatoly Grishchenko, a Soviet helicopter pilot who contracted leukemia after what was hailed as a heroic effort to try to douse the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, died late Monday night.

Grishchenko, 55, had been in critical condition with a lung infection for more than two weeks at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he had received a bone-marrow transplant April 27 in an attempt to conquer his leukemia.

He died of cardiopulmonary failure, spokeswoman Susan Edmonds said.

Grishchenko in 1986 repeatedly flew his heavy-lift copter through the intensely radioactive gases spewing from the Chernobyl plant, dumping sand and cement in an overmatched effort to cap the crippled reactor.

He and a handful of others in the operation were designated heroes of the Soviet Union, that country’s highest honor.

Despite lead shielding on the aircraft and other protective gear, Grishchenko suffered radiation sickness and was found to have radiation-related leukemia last year.

He arrived in Seattle on April 11 for the marrow transplant, which was performed after chemotherapy and radiation treatment to kill off his own marrow.

The transplant went smoothly, but Grishchenko’s condition suddenly deteriorated in mid-June. Antibiotics had failed to knock out the lung infection, which Grishchenko developed before coming to Seattle.