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Monday, 21 February, 2000, 15:58 GMT
Thailand probes radiation leak ![]() An official tests radiation levels at the scrapyard Thai health authorities are testing hundreds of Bangkok residents for radiation sickness after a leak at a scrapyard hospitalised five people, three critically. In all, about 500 residents of the eastern suburb of Samut Prakarn have had blood tests and are now awaiting results. The scrapyard had bought the material from a rubbish collector who had found it in a suburban carpark. The afflicted workers have suffered blisters, radiation burns and hair loss. They have become vulnerable to infections because of a drop in their level of white blood cells, the Health Ministry said. The authorities said they found three canisters containing the radioactive material. Isotope
The radiation came from the radioactive isotope Cobalt 60, which had been inside a container sold to the scrapyard.
Front page pictures in the Thai press showed officials searching through scrap metal heaps for radioactive waste using sticks and wearing cotton gardening gloves and cloth face-masks.
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