Five persons were admitted in AIIMS on Thursday evening with burn injuries and other ailments after continuous exposure to radiation at a scrap dealer’s shop in Mayapuri Phase-II, West Delhi.
A 1-kilometre radius around the shop has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure, a senior officer said.
According to the officer, the five victims slept at the scrap dealer’s shop, where some radioactive material, reportedly medical waste equipment, was dumped some five days ago in West Delhi.
According to officials, skin of two men had turned black due to exposure to the radioactive material — all five victims have burn injuries and rashes on their bodies.
– from indianexpress.com
cobalt 60, the radioactive isotope that made it to a scrap dealer’s shop in West Delhi. Scientists investigating the presence of the radiation source in public — a matter that raised concerns about India’s ability to handle nuclear waste — have almost ruled out the possibility of the detected cobalt 60 originating indigenously. They believe it most probably came as part of the industrial waste imported from abroad, from international scrap markets, to be more specific. That means the said source made it through the customs – a clear lapse.
– from tribuneindia.com