There was an emotional moment as two Chernobyl orphans were reunited after years apart.

A cuddle and a kiss sealed the amazing get-together for brother and sister Slava and Tatiana Marcello, who thought they would never meet again.

They were separated when they were sent to different orphanages following the nuclear disaster.

But yesterday, they were back together again, smiling, laughing and playing - thanks to a North-East charity and a kindhearted family.

The reunion happened at Newcastle Airport after Tatiana had flown thousands of miles from her homeland.

Teunie Donaldson, 57, who has taken the children into her family home in Usworth Village, Washington, for a month, said: "It was a very emotional experience for them."

Slava, 13, and Tatiana, who is nine, were sent to separate orphanages in the former Soviet state of Belarus, which is still suffering from the effects of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986.

Slava has been to the region several times on visits funded by the charity Chernobyl Children Lifeline, which arranges for local families to act as unpaid hosts.

Teunie and her family are meeting the cost of his and his sister's month long stay together.

Charity co-ordinator Ruth Bond said: "We're overjoyed that they are together again but at this stage we're uncertain whether they will be stay in one orphanage or remain in separate ones when they return to their homeland."