Alert at Barcelona airport due to a radioactive leak on a plane

A small radioactive spill from a box placed in the hold of a plane from Zurich has activated all the alarms, this Tuesday, at El Prat airport in Barcelona.

Aena, the airport manager, has assured that the protocol has been activated but the incident is “minor” and activity in the airport infrastructure has not been paralyzed.

Even so, all emergency forces have worked for three hours until any risk from the spill has been ruled out.

127 passengers have been confined during the three hours of emergency.

At 10:20 a.m. this Tuesday, the spill from a package where medical material was kept was detected and it was suspected that part of it could be radioactive.

This package was in the cabin of an Air Baltic company plane, so the passengers were not allowed to get off.

Civil Protection has activated the alert of the Aeronautical Emergency Plan of Catalonia (AEROCAT) and the Special Plan for Radiological Emergencies of Catalonia (RADCAT).

13 crews from the Generalitat Fire Department, including the Technological Risk Group and the Chemical Risk Van, have appeared on the plane and reviewed the package.

They have considered that if there had been any type of spill it would be of “low intensity” and they have contacted the technicians of the Radioactive Activity Coordination Service so that they can rule out any type of risk after carrying out checks.

The radioactive package was inside the hold of the plane and when they were going to remove it, they found that the cardboard box that protected it was broken.

The plane from Switzerland was carrying 127 passengers and five crew members who were first confined to the ship and then to a room at the airport.

Aena assures that operations and flights at the El Prat airport have not been affected by the incident and Civil Protection sources are confident that everything indicates that the spill either did not occur or was of imperceptible intensity.

The Mossos d'Esquadra have opened an investigation to clarify what happened to this oncological medical material.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m. Aena announced that the alert had been deactivated without any incident and after verifying that there was no risk.

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