A device containing radioactive material is missing in the Houston area, and authorities said Saturday they want to find it before someone is harmed.
The radiographic camera contains radioactive material "sealed within multiple layers of protection," thus it's unlikely to pose much of a threat unless it's comprehensively dismantled, state health services officials said.
"It does have a radioactive symbol on the side of it, but if somebody were to get into the part of the capsule where the radioactive material is, it's extremely hazardous, like losing fingers," said Lara Anton, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The device, a kind of portable X-ray machine used to see hidden structures, is common in the construction and oil industries. It went missing Thursday from a truck parked at a restaurant where workers went to buy lunch, Anton said.
A search for radioactive sources within a 5 mile radius of the restaurant, just north of the city line, was unsuccessful, she said.
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