Brazil Radiation Incident

In 1987, a radiotherapy unit was abandoned in a clinic in Brazil which was being demolished. The unit had a source which consisted of 1,375 curies of cesium-137. The source was stolen by two people, one of whom took it to his home and extracted the source from its containment enclosure. Then onwards the radioactive source changed a lot of hands around the town before it was discovered. About 112,800 people were examined at the city's Olympic stadium, of whom 129 were found to be contaminated and 20 were hospitalized. All in all four people died and many others displayed long-lasting effects.