CARACAS - Venezuelan authorities have launched a nationwide hunt for two capsules of radioactive material that went missing this month and which could kill people exposed to them, officials said on Thursday.
One of the two missing capsules of radioactive Iridium-192, which were being used in equipment to check oil industry pipes for faults, disappeared from a barge on March 15 in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela's western oil producing hub.
The other went missing after apparently falling off the back of a workers' truck on March 21 in the eastern oil producing state of Monagas, Angel Diaz, Director of Nuclear Affairs at Venezuela's Energy Ministry, told Reuters.
"They were lost through negligence... We're in a state of emergency ... we're looking for them," he added.
Venezuela's National Guard, Civil Defense Service and police were also involved in the hunt for the capsules, which were encased in protective containers of depleted uranium about the size of a lunchbox.
Authorities appealed to the public not to open the red and yellow containers, which carried radiation warning signs.
Diaz said if they were opened everyone within a range of at least five yards (metres) would be exposed to harmful radiation.
"The health and lives of people around would be at risk," he said. "Since they're quite heavy, people might think they have something valuable inside."
Iridium-192 emits powerful gamma radiation. It is often used in treating prostate cancer and in detecting faults in underground industrial pipes.
Authorities were concerned that some people might try to use the capsules to cause harm.
"They could be used in a malicious fashion. Someone might try to place these capsules near a person or a place where people were gathered, for terrorist purposes," Venezuela's Civil Defense chief Antonio Rivero said.
Rivero said authorities had no leads so far as to who might have the capsules.
Story by Tomas Sarmiento
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
