On April 26, 1986, a major accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) as an explosion and fire caused radioactive fallout to begin spewing into the atmosphere over much of Europe, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes in the most heavily hit areas.

Ten years ago

Whitney Cerak and Laura Van Ryn, two students at Indiana’s Taylor University, were involved in a van-truck collision that killed five people; in a tragic mix-up that took five weeks to resolve, a seriously injured and comatose Cerak was mistakenly identified as Van Ryn, who had actually died in the crash and was buried by Cerak’s family.

Five years ago

An 84-year-old naturalized American from Burundi accused of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide went on trial in Wichita, Kansas. He was convicted of making false statements on immigration forms, but the jury deadlocked on whether he’d played a role in the genocide. Federal prosecutors later moved to dismiss all the charges because they’d failed to disclose information about a witness who could have benefited the defense.

One year ago

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Boston for a stop at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and a dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry as he began a weeklong U.S. visit.

— By The Associated Press