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6 Hospitalized in Mexico With Signs of Radiation Exposure 6 Arrested in Theft of Truck With Radioactive Waste
(about 3 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — Six people showing signs of radiation exposure were hospitalized in central Mexico on Friday, government officials said, two days after a stolen truck carrying radioactive waste was found abandoned in the area, its potentially lethal contents disturbed. The authorities said the six are suspects in the robbery and are being detained. MEXICO CITY — Six people have been arrested in connection with the theft this week of a truck carrying highly radioactive waste in an episode that caused an international scare and raised concerns about the transporting of nuclear material.
The people checked into a hospital in Pachuca, 60 miles north of here and not far from the small town where the truck and the material, cobalt 60, were found Wednesday after disappearing and setting off international concern. The group was arrested Thursday night and taken to a hospital in Pachuca, 60 miles north of here and not far from the small town where the truck and the material, cobalt 60, were found Wednesday after armed robbers stole them Monday.
The material, hospital waste being transported from Tijuana to a storage repository near Mexico City, is often cited as a potential ingredient in a so-called dirty bomb, a combination of explosives and radioactive material. But Mexican and American officials said the theft appeared to be a common crime and not terror related. One of the people, a 16-year-old boy, was vomiting and had signs of possible radiation sickness, while the others were taken to the hospital as a precaution before all were cleared and released in the late afternoon and turned over to the federal police.
There was enough material in the waste shipment to deliver a dose within minutes that would cause illness within a day or two, and with  a few hours of exposure, a dose that would be lethal. The material, hospital waste being transported from Tijuana to a storage repository near Mexico City, is often cited as a potential ingredient in a dirty bomb, a combination of explosives and radioactive material, though Mexican and American officials said the theft appeared to be a common crime and not related to terrorism.
The stricken people had symptoms of radiation sickness, like nausea and dizziness, and doctors quickly quarantined them, while the federal police and army surrounded and cordoned off the hospital, located in Hidalgo State, said the Hidalgo health secretary, Pedro Luis Noble Monterrubio. The authorities in Hidalgo State, where the hospital is, confirmed Friday that two of the men were suspected of carrying out the robbery and four others belonged to a gang that might be complicit in it, though it remained unclear if they wanted the truck, the cobalt or both. It was unclear how the police had connected the men to the case.
The federal Interior Ministry said officials were investigating the six people, their backgrounds, how they became sick and whether they were involved in the robbery or were townspeople who simply got too close to the material. A hospital worker said in an interview that the police and military had swarmed the emergency room, barred the staff from using cellphones and carefully monitored people coming and going, while preparations were being made to bring the men to Mexico City.
The cobalt 60 was found several hundred feet from the truck, apparently carried off by the thieves or by curious people in the area. There was enough material to quickly harm or even cause death, Mexican nuclear safety officials said, and they predicted that whoever moved it or was directly exposed to it would soon end up in a hospital. The theft prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear monitor of the United Nations, to issue an alert. The cobalt 60, which was in a sealed container in a locked box, was found several hundred feet from the truck, apparently carried off by the thieves or by curious people in the area. Exposure to the material for a few minutes would cause illness within a day or two, and exposure for a few hours could deliver a lethal dose.
Several members of a family who reported finding the container were checked and cleared by doctors on Wednesday. Several members of a family who reported finding the container were checked and cleared by doctors Wednesday.
In Hueypoxtla, the small town where the truck was abandoned, a local kindergarten suspended classes after faculty members complained that their health was threatened because the school was close to where the material was found. In Hueypoxtla, the small town where the truck was abandoned, a kindergarten suspended classes after faculty members complained that their health was threatened because the school was close to where the material was found.
The truck carrying the cobalt 60 was taken from a gas station where the driver had stopped. The material was in a box in a sealed container, but the thieves managed to breach both, and Mexican nuclear safety officials said the transport company violated procedures by not properly safeguarding the truck and its contents. The truck carrying the cobalt 60 was taken from a gas station where the driver had stopped. Mexican nuclear safety commission officials said the transport company violated procedures by not properly safeguarding the truck and its contents.
American officials said they were monitoring of the case and would offer help if Mexico asked. American officials said they were monitoring the case and would offer help if Mexico asked.

Paulina Villegas contributed reporting.

The Mexican episode appeared to be the most serious involving radioactive material in Latin America since 1987, when a quantity of cesium 137, also intended for medical use, went astray in Goiânia, Brazil.

Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting from Washington.