Pucheng police in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have launched a wide search for fatal radioactive substance after an electrical engineering company reported the loss of its cesium-137 radioactive resources for metal mineral exploration on January 6. The lost substance has not been located yet.

In the afternoon on January 6, Northwest Power Construction No 1 Engineering Company, undertaking a project in Pucheng County, reported the loss to local police. Alarmed by its extreme harm to human health, police immediately formed search teams and a round-the-clock hunt started.

The four teams searched every family day and night and left no stone unturned in the area within 2 kilometers from the engineering site. County and health officials are also involved in the search.

It was reported that a strange thing was founded in a dried well in Baiqi village last night, but it turned out to be a dead chicken.

Pucheng County government and police called on the holder to hand in the radioactive resource as soon as possible and all people having contact it to register with the health authorities. The government also organized a special hospital check up and treat anyone who happened to have close contact with the substance and urged people to provide clues to police. The clue-providing phone number is 0913-7261980.

The stolen radioactive resource Cs-137 was bought in 1971, but it still preserves great harm to humans and threatens public safety and health, experts warn. The declining cycle of Cs-137 is 140 years, people with lose contact to it would suffer deadly blood diseases or give birth to abnormal and deformed children.

(China Daily February 9, 2004)