Missing radioactive capsule found in Australian outback after huge search

Published

2 years ago

February 1, 2023

admin

A radioactive capsule that fell off a truck in the Australian outback – sparking a radiation alert and a search of hundreds of miles of road – has been found.

Western Australia’s emergency services minister said the silver capsule, which emits the isotope Caesium-137, had been located about two metres from the roadside.

Authorities were hunting for the 6mm by 8mm capsule and retracing the truck’s 870-mile (1,400km) route with radiation-scanning gear.

The military was checking the capsule and it was due to be taken to a secure facility in Perth.

Minister Stephen Dawson called it an “extraordinary result”.

How was the capsule found?

It took several government agencies six days to find the missing capsule.

The search involved Western Australia’s emergency response department, police, fire and rescue service, along with Australia’s Department of Defence, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, and the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organisation.

They retraced the capsule’s 870-mile journey along the Great Northern Highway and other roads in both directions using vehicles fitted with specialist radiation equipment capable of flagging up the isotope Caesium-137 inside.

The vehicles travelled at “slow speeds” and eventually detected the capsule as it drove past it at 43mph.

Niall Monaghan, senior physicist at Radiation Consultancy Services Ltd, tells Sky News it would have been easy to detect with a moving vehicle.

“It’s pretty radioactive, so you would see it pretty easily with a basic detector – even travelling at 40mph.

“Caesium-137 gives off Gamma rays, which penetrate more than X-rays.

“So at that intensity, the capsule would be easily picked up by a detector like a Geiger counter – the ones you see in films that crackle when they find something.

“If you were going really fast you might miss it, but it’s the same as if it was dark and you were looking for something that glows – you would still see it.”

Authorities previously said it would take five days to retrace the route, with minister Stephen Dawson describing the end result as “quite literally finding the needle in the haystack”.

“When you consider the scope of the research area, locating this object was a monumental challenge, the search groups have quite literally found the needle in the haystack,” he said.

The capsule was found when a vehicle with scanning equipment picked up radiation as it drove past at about 43mph (70kmh).

People had been warned of potential radiation burns, sickness, and damage to their immune and gastrointestinal systems if they came closer than five metres to the capsule.

Driving past was described as much lower risk however, similar to having an X-ray.

It was discovered far from any community and it is unlikely anyone would have been exposed to its radiation, said Western Australia‘s chief health officer Andrew Robertson.

The capsule is owned by mining firm Rio Tinto and is part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore.

Vibrations during transportation are believed to have caused screws and a bolt to come loose from the gauge, allowing it to fall out.

The search area was vast as the truck covered a distance longer than Britain on its journey from the Gudai-Darri mine, in the remote Kimberley region, to the Perth suburbs.

Police, the defence department and Australia’s nuclear agency were all involved after the capsule was reported missing on 25 January.

They had been scouring the state’s Great Northern Highway as well as other sections of the route used by the road train – a truck pulling multiple trailers.

Some 410 miles (660km) had been searched by Tuesday.

Rio Tinto, which gave the capsule to another company to transport, apologised for the “very concerning” incident and said it had launched its own investigation.

Authorities are doing their own probe but under 1975 state laws the fine for mishandling radioactive substances is currently only A$1,000 – and A$50 per day the offence continues.

“That figure is ridiculously low,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“But I suspect that it’s ridiculously low because people didn’t think such an item could be lost.”

Police have looked at bringing potential criminal charges but have concluded there is no case to answer.

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

14 hours ago

July 11, 2025

admin

'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

22 hours ago

July 11, 2025

admin

At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Published

1 day ago

July 11, 2025

admin

Ten children among at least 15 killed waiting for Gaza health clinic to open, says aid group

Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.

Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.

The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.

“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.

“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”

Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.

Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.

Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.

“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.

The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.

It said three children and their mother were among the dead.

Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.

On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.

A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.

People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.

Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.

A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.

However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.

Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.