IGI airport scare: No radioactive leak, say AERB, Delhi govt

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, May 29, 2015: Hours after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that a radioactive leak at the Delhi airport’s cargo hold had been plugged, the atomic regulatory board said no there had been no such leak.

On Friday morning emergency teams were rushed to the Delhi airport after four cartons of a sodium iodide consignment were reported to have leaked material of "low radio activity," according to an airport spokesperson.

Investigations have allegedly revealed that an organic solvent, N-Vinyl Pyrodine, had leaked from a package near the medical consignment, wetting the four cartons.

Two workers who handled the nuclear medical consignment, meant for a private hospital, had complained of irritation in the eyes and were taken to hospital for a preliminary check. They were soon back at work, cleared for radiation levels.

The medical consignment had arrived on a Turkish Airlines plane. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was holding a press conference, said the leak had been contained and atomic energy experts were on their way.

Airport officials emphasised that there was no need for panic. The passenger terminals of the airport, they pointed out, are some distance from the cargo area, which was sanitised and cordoned off by the National Disaster Response Force or NDRF.

"The radioactive leak was very very small. There is nothing to panic about and there is no effect on the passenger area," said NDRF chief O P Singh had said earlier in the day.

Turkish Airlines said in statement, "The cargo package containing medical material and carried by Turkish Airlines’ TK716 Istanbul - Delhi flight has been examined by the official authorities in Delhi on suspicion of radioactive leak due to the wetness seen on the mentioned package."

It said radiological surveys on board the aircraft when it landed back in Istanbul found "no evidence."