Last week we reported on a truck which was stolen and later found near the rural town of Hueypoxtia, Mexico. The truck was carrying a container of material when it was hijacked containing the deadly chemical cobalt-60. When it was stolen, the truck, which was carrying the radioactive material was traveling from a hospital in Tijuana to a storage facility near Mexico City. While it appears the thieves were interested in the truck itself, but not the container on it, they did open the container which exposed them to the radioactive material inside. Apparently, a major portion of the material was actually removed from the container which was later found close by. The thieves themselves have not shown up yet, but that’s probably because they’re dying.
Mardonio Jimenez, a physicist for Mexico’s National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, says, “The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation. They will, without a doubt, die.” Likely in the next few days, he continued.
Cobalt-60 is produced commercially for use in industrial plants and for cancer radiotherapy. Like any radioactive material, it can also cause cancer if you’re exposed to low amounts over a long period of time. But how the cobalt-60 will deliver its punishment on the thieves is a different matter. The chemical emits gamma rays; light waves of very high frequency that contain enormous amounts of energy and which can cause acute radiation sickness of varying degrees depending on the amount, intensity, and type of exposure. People could suffer serious harm, even death, from radiation sickness without ever actually touching the radioactive material, mere exposure is enough. When a gamma ray comes in contact with a human cell, its energy interferes with chemical bonds which is a process called ionization. A person’s DNA can break and cause mutations or kill the cells in question.
The thieves in Mexico are therefore probably in great pain. They could have burns or blisters on their skin. They could have diarrhea, headaches or fever. Their stomachs and intestines could be bleeding. The radiation will probably have depleted their supply of red and white blood cells which will reduce their bodies’ access to oxygen, making them tired and will lower their resistance to infections. They could be suffering from seizures or even be in a coma by now.
These are known effects discovered by experiments into cobalt-60’s effects. In addition to the studies, in a 1989 accident near San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, three workers were exposed to high amounts of the material. The worker who had the worst exposure was taken to a hospital in Mexico City where his right leg was amputated because it was covered in so many burns that the tissue died. He received a bone marrow transplant but eventually contracted pneumonia and after six and a half months, he died.
That was under Mexico’s best medical care. The cobalt-60 thieves probably aren’t getting any such attention. According to Jimenez, no one has reported to a local hospital with symptoms of radiation. In our latest report on this incident, authorities in Mexico stated they had detained 6 individuals in the case but none of the 6 presented any symptoms of radiation exposure and there have been no further reports concerning their disposition.
Click here to read our earlier reports on this incident: https://fggam.org/mexican-authorities-detain-6-in-radioactive-material-theft/
