CBRN event in Mangistau, Uralsk area, Kazakhstan on Wed 27th August 2014

On August 27, 2014, a 50-60 kilogram 30 cm X 20 cm container of Cesium-137 fell out of a KamAZ truck traveling on the road from Sai Utes to Shetpe in Uralsk in the Mangistau region. The owners of the container, the company Kazpromgeofizika, offered a reward to anyone who found the container. A search was undertaken by the National Security Committee in the town of Atyrai. On September 5, a taxi driver called the Department of Emergency Situations for the Mangistau region to report that a passenger whom he had driven had recently traveled in a KamAZ truck, the driver of which had found a container resembling a gas cylinder by the side of the road in the Mangistau region. Patrolling officers were able to stop the truck on September 6 in the Shieli region in the Bayhakum settlements and recover the container in its entirety. It was determined that the container was transported in the KamAZ truck by residents of the South Kazakhstan region. It is not known whether the container was inadvertently lost or whether it was stolen. Investigations into the degree to which different parties were involved in the incident is ongoing; Kazpromgeofizika may also have its license withdrawn.