The event[]
1987 Goiânia accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13th, 1987, when an unsecured caesium chloride radiation source that was left in an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil. It was recovered by scavenging thieves unaware of its true nature when they broke open a radiation-therapy machine in an abandoned clinic in Goiânia.
They played around with it then sold to a scrapyard, who's owner also played about with it. It was a family toy for a while. They sold the kilocurie (40 TBq) caesium-137 source as a glowing curiosity and many more people then played with it.
About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination, with a total of 249 people badly contaminated and 4 later died. Several, including the dead had peeling skin, vomited often, went nearly bald, lost a lot of body weight, go severe body odour issues and passed out on occasions.
The clean-up operation involved top soil removal, demolishing several several houses and destroying contaminated objects from within those houses.