Slashdot Mirror
Thieves Who Stole Cobalt-60 Will Soon Be Dead
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The Washington Post reports that the carjackers who set off international alarm bells by absconding with a truckload of highly radioactive cobalt-60, used in hospital radiotherapy machines, most likely had no idea what they were stealing and will die soon from exposure. The robbery occurred as the cobalt-60 was being driven from a public hospital in the border town of Tijuana to a storage facility in central Mexico. While waiting for daybreak at a gas station in the state of Hidalgo the drivers were jumped by two gunmen who beat them and stole the truck. "I believe, definitely, that the thieves did not know what they had; they were interested in the crane, in the vehicle," says Mardonio Jimenez, a physicist with Mexico's nuclear safety commission. The prospect that material that could be used in a radioactive dirty bomb had gone missing sparked an urgent two-day hunt that concluded when the material, cobalt-60, used in hospital radiotherapy machines, was found along with the stolen Volkswagen truck. The cobalt-60 was found, removed from its casing, in a rural area near the town of Hueypoxtla about 25 miles from where the truck was stolen. Jimenez suspects that curiosity got the better of the thieves and they opened the box. So far the carjackers have not been arrested, but authorities expect they will not live long. "The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation. They will, without a doubt, die.""
or gain superpowers.
Title says it all.
On my lunch bag when I put it in the fridge at work I put
"Strontium-90 - RADIOACTIVE" on one side
The other I put
"LIVE SPECIMEN - BIOHAZZARD"
I nominate these guys for the Darwin award!
By any chance was it a 1964 Chevy Malibu?
You will be a hit with the TSA.
It's too bad they found that cobalt. If not, they would have lived forever!
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
I believe in karma, which is why, when I do something bad to people, I assume they deserve it.
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
There is no way Jesus said that, my gardener can barely speak two words of English.
Shhhhh, here have a bowl.
Seen leaving the scene of the crime here: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bI0WbLHBXyY/Tix4ZFMCZ_I/AAAAAAABoSM/1YqK064jHsY/s640/back+to+the+future+whitewalls.jpg
and I think they need to get their engine checked.
If the loot starts to glow, just say "No"
Well, that explains many of your posts.
How many cranes did you steal to feed your family?
Usually about one each week, which is how long the meat would last before going bad.
They're slender birds so you'd might not think that one could last a family of four (myself, my mother, and my two sisters) that long, but in desperate situations people learn to make do.