Anna Fedorova (born in 1923) moved to a village in the vicinity of the Mayak plant, just months before the explosion. She took up a job guarding cattle for the complex. Like most people, she had not realised what had happened when the accident at Mayak took place. She went to work the morning after, as if it were a usual day. She was told to go back home, but took up work again after two days. Eventually, after a week, she was told the area was contaminated and people were then evacuated. Both Anna Federova and her husband fell ill in the years after the accident. She lost her sight after developing diabetes, an illness with a proven link to radiation.