1.23 am April 26 1986

A reactor exploded in one of several nuclear plants in Chernobyl in the Ukraine, then one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Almost 200 tons of highly radioactive uranium and graphite were expelled into the atmosphere.

An area the size of England, Wales and Northern Ireland was contaminated, according to a 1995 United Nations report. In addition to the devastation of land and crops, people in neighbouring Belarus have been crippled by various cancers.

The thyroid tumour clinic in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, found a 24-fold increase in thyroid cancer in Belarus and a 100-fold increase in the Gomel region since the disaster. Before 1986, there was less than one case of thyroid cancer each year in Belarus.

Rory Coveney visited Chernobyl as part of a humanitarian aid project. "What I saw changed my life," he said last year. "I came back determined to do something for the Chernobyl Chidren's Project - and so the idea for Sail Chernobyl was born." Rory asked his sister and brothers to set aside their school plans for 20 months and head out to sea in the name of charity.

"Hugh Coveney wanted them to move beyond understanding crises in the world and actually experience them," says Adi Roche, founder of the children's charity. "They are breaking the silence and telling truth about Chernobyl in a very creative way."

And creativity in this venture is not just the preserve of the Coveneys. They are being supported by innovative efforts such as a paragliding dive from UCC's highest building. The UCC supporters also "land-sailed" around the campus and staged a juggling performance on stilts last week. The UCC Sail Chernobyl Fund aims to raise £10,000.

In September Simon visited Chernobyl to see where the money raised was going. Renewing the appeal for donations: "These young people have no future. They have no families. Nobody wants them. They need us."

Adi Roche says that "the bottom line is there should be no more Chernobyls. Our children deserve a nuclear-free future."