Five take ill in Delhi after radiation exposure, investigation on
10 Apr 2010
Following a 12-hour investigation and search exercise, scientists from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), have been able to finally clear a Delhi scrap market of radioactive material. The DAE team also sanitised five shops after five people took ill from the deadly radiation.
The DAE combed the contaminated site in the capital's Mayapuri area through Thursday night and till Friday forenoon had recovered several pieces of the radioactive material in the area.
The material was then removed and packed in a shielded container an official said. He added that the radiation level in the area had normalised and the road cordons had been removed.
"The scrap shop where the radioactive material was kept was found to have a high radiation field. Four nearby shops also indicated high radiation field," the official added.
According to experts the radio active substance was Cobalt-60. He added that such sources were in use in industry for radiography, nucleonic gauges for thickness measurement and in medical application. The incident / radiation exposure was not related to any of the DAE facilities, according to the atomic energy department.
Four people suffered radiation burns after being exposed to the radioactive material in the scrap market in Mayapuri area on Thursday. Scrap dealer Deepak Jain also suffered burns and is battling for life at the Indraprashtha Apollo Hospital.
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