A truck filled with highly radioactive material was stolen from a Mexican town in an armed heist.
The equipment could prompt a fatal dose of radiation to those who come near it.
A truck filled with highly radioactive material was stolen from a Mexican town in an armed heist on Sunday morning, local authorities say.
The truck was taken from the town of Teoloyucan, a satellite town in the state of Mexico, which surrounds Mexico City. National security agencies said the equipment being carried in the truck, a QSA Delta 800 gamma ray projector, is extremely dangerous and could prompt a fatal dose of radiation to those who come near it.
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“If the radioactive material is extracted from the container, is moved, or makes direct contact with any persons handling it, permanent injury can occur in minutes. In case of making direct contact with the source over the course of hours or days, the effects can prove fatal,” a warning issued by the National Commission Nuclear Security and Safeguarding said, according to the Independent.
The commission said someone being 30 meters away could still be exposed to radiation through the device.
Members of the Commission for National Civil Protection are being dispatched across central Mexico, and the truck is believed to now be in Mexico City.
Officials in the Mexican government did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment.