Fukushima ghost towns abandoned after 2011 nuclear disaster revealed by filmmakers

'It's heartbreaking to see how people fled and left all their belongings behind,' says Bob Thissen

A film team that specialises in surreptitiously accessing abandoned places has produced new footage showing the ghost towns left behind after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The trailer for "Abandoned Fukushima", a new series by the Exploring the Unbeaten Path group, shows cobweb-covered supermarkets still filled with 2011-era products and classrooms where children's bags and coats are still hanging.

The area was ravaged by a huge 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March of that year, which led to successive meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate and exclusion zones remain in place.

In the most dangerous areas access is restricted and people travelling through are not allowed to stay overnight.

But the film crew, led by Dutchman Bob Thissen, captured handheld and drone footage of the abandoned, irradiated areas while dodging police and constantly measuring contamination levels.

"It's heartbreaking to see how people fled and left all their belongings behind," Mr Thissen told RT.

New episodes in the Fukushima series will be posted to YouTube.

Mr Thissen has previously made headlines for sneaking into the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and filming the rusting hulks of abandoned Buran space shuttles created by the Soviet Union.