One more down with N-sickness

With one more person reporting symptoms of radiation exposure, medical experts fear the number of victims of Thursday’s radiation leak in West Delhi could be higher than the seven reported earlier.

With one more person reporting symptoms of radiation exposure, medical experts fear the number of victims of Thursday’s radiation leak in West Delhi could be higher than the seven reported earlier.

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Babloo (28) from Mayapuri, where the radioactive Colbalt-60 was stored in a scrap dealer’s shop, was hospitalised on Tuesday with complaints of ble-eding and skin discolouration.

Radiation therapy experts said it could just be the beginning of more people developing symptoms. “Many more [victims] will come. All people in the area are potentially exposed but blood in stool, rashes, diarrhoea are probably being dismissed as summer allergies,” said a doctor at AIIMS.

Experts said exposure symptoms may take days, weeks or even months to surface.

“A Bhabha Atomic Research Centre team is reaching AIIMS on Thursday to take blood samples for chromosomal analysis to help estimate the extent of radiation absorption in the admitted patients,” said a radiation safety council member.