Two hundred and fifty people looking for cesium container in Kazakhstan
AKTAU. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The search for a cesium-137 container lost in the Mangistau region of Kazakhstan has been futile for now.
About 250 persons carrying metal detectors and 45 vehicles are searching for the container, regional emergency situations department deputy head Kazhimukhan Kospayev said at a press conference in Aktau, the administrative center of the region, on Thursday.
Presumably, the container might have fallen off a KAMAZ truck in the steppe, 275 kilometers from Aktau, and "the road is very bad there, there is a thick layer of dust mixed with sand everywhere," he said.
"The regulations compelled the driver and the security guard to stop the car and check on the cargo every two hours. The truck was equipped with a GPS device and its travel was fully controlled," Kospayev said.
He added the department did not rule out the container might have been lost somewhere else.
"We are eyeing another theory - the capsule might have been lost somewhere else. Just in case, we have involved the Atyrau region in our search, they are also looking for [the container]," he continued.
Earlier reports said a cesium-137 container with a height of 30 centimeters, a diameter of 20 centimeters and a weight of about 50-60 kilograms fell off a KAMAZ truck on the Sai-Otes-Shetpe road on August 28.
Regional emergency services, including the police, the emergency situations department and the army, are searching for the dangerous cargo, and the authorities of the Mangistau region have promised a reward of 1.5 million tenge (the current exchange rate is 182 tenge to the dollar) to the person who finds the cesium container.