On the 13th of September 1987, in the city of Goiânia in Brazil, two men
entered the abandoned Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia hospital. Their
intent was to steal valuable scrap metal and machine parts. They would be
successful in this goal, but in doing so would cause one of the world's worst
radioactive contamination incidents. The hospital (a private radiotherapy
Institute) had been abandoned in 1985 when operations moved to new
purpose-built premises. While most of the equipment was taken along for the move a
radiotherapy unit containing a capsule of radioactive caesium chloride salt
remained behind. Authorities were aware that this valuable and dangerous piece
of equipment remained within the abandoned building, but could not arrange
for its removal due to a dispute between the owner of the building and the
management of the hospital. The property was monitored by security guards, but on the
13th of September 1987 the guard who was due to work that day called in sick. In a
grimly amusing footnote his reason for doing so was that he wished to take his
family to a special screening of the comedy adventure film Herbie Goes
Bananas. In any event no guard was present when Roberto dos Santos Alves
and Wagner Moto Pereira entered the hospital, disassembled the radiotherapy
unit and carted the radioactive source away in a wheelbarrow. The men knew only
that the source was valuable and had no idea that exposure to the radioactive
material within would be harmful to their health.
The pair took the source to Roberto's home and began to dismantle it as best
they were able. Soon both men started to suffer symptoms of radiation poisoning
including vomiting, diarrhea, and dizziness. Burns developed on their hands
where they had come into contact with the source. Nonetheless the men continued to
disassemble the capsule. Two days later, on September 15th, Wagner visited a local
clinic and was incorrectly diagnosed with food poisoning.
This was unsurprising, as staff of the small clinic had no experience at all of
dealing with ailments caused by radiation. Roberto meanwhile continued
working on the capsule. On September 16th he punched a hole in it with a
screwdriver and noted a pulsing blue light emanating from within. Intrigued,
Roberto used the tip of the screwdriver to scoop out some of the radioactive
salt which he then attempted to set on fire, thinking it might be gunpowder.
Fortunately he was not able to ignite the salt. Another two days passed. On
September 18th Roberto sold the capsule to scrapyard
owner Devair Alves Ferriera who took the blue glow of the radioactive salts
to be a sign that the canister had magical properties. Completely unaware of
the true nature of the glow, he took the canister to his home and invited
numerous friends and family to come and look at it over the course of several
days. On September 21st one of Devair's friends succeeded in digging out yet
more of the radioactive material from inside the canister. Again
Devair mistook the deadly radioactive glow for something magical and gave tiny
portions of the salt as gifts to his friends and family. Among these
unfortunate recipients was Ivo Ferreira, his brother. Ivo took the salt home and
allowed his six-year-old daughter to play with it. The young girl, enchanted
by the glow, spread the salt onto her skin like a makeup and added it to a
meal that she was eating. On September 25th Devair sold what
remained of the capsule to a second scrapyard. His wife Gabriella
Maria Ferreira was already severely ill by this stage, but it was she who
eventually raised the alarm. On September 28th she retrieved the cannister from
the scrapyard to which her partner had sold it and took it to a nearby hospital.
There, finally, on September 29th doctors identified the cannister and alerted
authorities, who took immediate action to contain the incident and begin cleanup.
This was no small task. Several houses were demolished and objects retrieved
from many more were destroyed after testing positive for radioactive
contamination. Floors and walls in some houses were treated, roofs were hosed
down, vehicles were impounded and in some cases destroyed, and five unfortunate
pigs were destroyed after it was discovered they were contaminated. All in
all 112,000 people were tested for possible
contamination and 249 were found to be contaminated. With appropriate treatment
most of them made a full recovery. The small doses they had absorbed meant
only a slight increase in the risk that they might develop cancer later in life.
Not everyone went unscathed however. The people who had been closest to the
source suffered greatly. Roberto dos Santos Alves, one of the
thieves who had originally removed the source from the hospital, had his right
arm amputated after suffering severe radiation burns.
The other thief, Wagner Mota Pereira, lost several fingers.
Neither were charged in the civil suit which followed the incident. All things
considered they got off extremely lightly. Others were not so lucky.
Edmilson Alves de Souza and Israel Baptista dos Santos, two
employees at Devair's junkyard, died from internal injuries sustained as a
result of contact with radiation. Devair's wife
Gabriella Maria Ferreira (the one who had eventually raised the alarm about the
incident) also died in a similar fashion. the youngest victim was Leide das Neves
Ferreira, the six-year-old daughter of Ivo Ferreira, who had been allowed to
play with the radioactive material and add it to her food. Her body was so
contaminated following her death that she was buried in a lead-lined coffin.
The Goiânia incident is now recognized as one of the world's worst incidents of
radioactive contamination. Although there is no recorded legacy of cancer in the
local population the fear of radiation and it's terrible effects remains rife
to this day