Indian Man Dies After Radiation Exposure

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/world/asia/28india.html

Indian Man Dies After Radiation Exposure
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: April 27, 2010

NEW DELHI ? A man hospitalized for radiation exposure died Monday night from multiple organ failure, the first fatality stemming from a major case of radiation exposure earlier this month that forced authorities to temporarily cordon off an industrial area near the heart of the national capital...

...Rajender, 35, was one of seven people hospitalized after being exposed to radioactive materials at scrap metal shops in an industrial area known as Mayapuri, located barely 10 miles from India?s Parliament.

Indian officials believe the source of the radiation was a piece or pieces of outdated medical equipment hidden in a shipment of scrap metal imported from overseas.

Investigators discovered the radioactive materials on April 9, after being notified that a shop owner in Mayapuri had been hospitalized and tested positive for radiation exposure. The shop owner, Deepak Jain, remains hospitalized in stable condition, along with five others...

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Indian Man Dies After Radiation Exposure

Radiation leak: Origin of Cobalt-60 traced to DU

STAFF WRITER 19:31 HRS IST
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) The origin of radioactive Cobalt-60 found in west Delhi's Mayapuri, which led to the death of one person, has been traced to Delhi University's Chemistry Department where it was lying unused since the last 25 years.

The Cobalt-60 was in a "Gamma Irradiator", which was bought in 1968 from Canada and was not in use since 1985, police said today adding it was bought by scrap dealers in Mayapuri through an auction in February this year.

"We have traced the radioactive material to Delhi University's Chemistry Department. One of the equipment the scrap dealers bought was Gamma Irradiator," Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Ajay Kashyap told PTI.

The scrap dealers dismantled the equipment and in the process, the lead covering on it was pealed off leading to radiation exposure, Kashyap said.

"The equipment was in use till 1985 and after that it was lying in a room unused.
http://ptinews.com/news/630549_Radiation-leak--Origin-of-Cobalt-60-traced-to-DU

There was negligence: DU VC

STAFF WRITER 23:13 HRS IST
New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) Delhi University Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental tonight admitted there had been "negligence" as the radioactive substance found its way out of the university's Chemistry Department to a scrap market in Mayapuri industrial area.

"We have to go into it and inquire into this--in a very systematic method to find out where was the negligence, when the source (of radioactive substance) brought, with whose permission the source was bought and who was using it", he said.

He told NDTV that he learnt from the media that the radioactive substance found in Mayapuri was traced to Delhi University's Chemistry Department.

"The police came to the university but they didn't come to see me, to inform me about what has happened....I'm not fully in picture of what exactly happened", Pental said.
http://ptinews.com/news/630916_There-was-negligence--DU-VC