In May, a radioactive metal bar was picked up by a man surnamed Bai and taken home. 118 residents fell ill as a result of what was later found to be radiation exposure. Bai's wife and nine-year old son are being treated for serious radiation poisoning. They are in stable condition. But Bai himself hasn't suffered any symptoms of radiation poisoning.

According to Guo Weihua from the provincial supervision station for the radioactive environment, Bai found the metal bar, which is typically used in industrial X-ray equipment, on a coal heap in a boiler room.

"There should be a lead protective layer, someone obviously stripped off the lead to sell it," Guo said.

Xu Hong, a 13-year-old girl, and her 82-year-old grandmother, surnamed Cui, are the most seriously ill. Xu was living with her grandmother in an apartment complex in Harbin's Daoli District while her parents decorated their new home.

Xu and her grandmother fell ill at the end of June and the beginning of July respectively, before being sent to hospital after developing acute radiation poisoning in mid-July. Cui died on October 20.

According to Xu's mother, her daughter is recovering well in hospital, but doctors said that even if Xu makes a full recovery, it is likely that she will develop problems in the future.

Why the bar was disposed of without the correct procedures is under investigation.

(China Daily November 2, 2005)