Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/AUSTRALIA: Australian authorities say they have found the tiny radioactive capsule that went missing the previous week.
According to the BBC, Western Australian authorities said emergency services “literally found the needle in the haystack.”
The huge search had triggered when an object was lost while transported along a 1,400-kilometre route across a state.
Radioactive Capsule Found
Mining giant Rio Tinto apologized for losing the device, which posed a danger if handled.
The capsule, which is 6mm in diameter and 8mm long, contains a small quantity of Caesium-137, which cause skin damage, burns, and radiation sickness.
Emergency services used specialized equipment, including radiation detectors, during their hunt.
Announcing their find Wednesday, the state emergency services paid tribute to the “inter-agency teamwork in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds”.
Officials said the capsule was found when a car equipped with specialist equipment travelling at 70 km/h detected radiation.
They also said that portable detection equipment was then used to locate the capsule, which has found about two meters from the side of the road.
