TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Two policemen and a railway guard were exposed to heavy doses of radiation after opening a container of nuclear waste out of curiosity, a news report said Friday.
The waste, including uranium-238 and cobalt-60, came from a cancer research institute and had been stored at the Kutaisi railroad station in Tbilisi since 1992. It was supposed to have been shipped to Moscow for processing.
The three men found the air-tight container in a station warehouse on Tuesday. Out of curiosity, they opened it and broke three capsules of waste inside, then threw them away, the Interfax news agency said.
Two days later, they were rushed to a hospital where they were found to have been exposed to heavy and possibly fatal levels of radiation.
The warehouse was cordoned off after officials found radiation levels within a 300-yard radius to be in excess of permissible norms, Interfax said.
Some 200 refugees from breakaway Abkhazia who had been staying in the depot were evacuated, the news agency said. It was not known if they were exposed to radiation.