A 35-year-old man died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), 19 days after he was exposed to radioactive material in the scrap market of Mayapuri in west Delhi. Another victim continues to remain critical, doctors said on Tuesday.

A man hospitalised after radiation exposure in the national capital earlier this month died due to multiple organ failure on Monday night, a first case in India’s 60 years of nuclear history.

“Prasad, 35, died on Monday night at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. His condition deteriorated on Saturday. He developed bilateral pneumonia and impaired kidney and liver functions,” said Y K Gupta, professor and chief spokesperson of AIIMS.

Prasad’s total leucocyte count went below 100 (normally it should be between 4,000 and 11,000 per cubic mm) and the platelet count came to 7,000 per cubic mm (which would be between 1,50,000 and 4,50,000). In other words, his body simply could not fight infection.
“This is India’s first radiation death,” K S Parthasarathy, former secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), told Deccan Herald over the phone from Kerala.