A CHARITY for young victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster hopes to set up a new group in the area.

Chernobyl North-East, at Washington, Wearside, is part of the national concern Chernobyl Child Line established in 1992.

It provides month-long breaks in the region for children from Belarus aged nine to 15, including some suffering from leukaemia or thyroid cancer caused by radiation.

Belarus, part of the former Soviet Union, was contaminated by fall-out ten times greater than after the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.

The youngsters live in poverty and most of their food is contaminated.

On their North-East break, during which they stay with local families, they get the chance to eat uncontaminated food and breath clean air.

Chernobyl North-East has groups in North Yorkshire, Teesside, Tyneside and Northumberland, but aims to set up in Durham.

Ruth Bond, co-ordinator of the Washington group, said: "It would be good to set up a group in Durham that could cover the area up to Crook and the Dales.

"It is very worthwhile because there is a danger they are going to be forgotten because it will be 2,000 years before the radiation goes."

She hopes a Durham group of families willing to take two children each for a month could be formed. Anyone interested is asked to call Mrs Bond on 0191-416 2357.