No one has been ‘seriously affected’, officials say (Picture: JP PARIENTE/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock)
A suitcase filled with a ‘low-intensity’ radioactive material was discovered on a plane after landing while passengers were on board.
The aircraft landed this morning at Terminal 1 of Barcelona-El Prat Airport, about 15km southwest of the capital, from Zurich, Germany.
As the Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) craft was being unloaded, a suitcase possibly leaking low-level radioactive material was discovered.
The spillage was reportedly caused by a ‘radiological medical product’ inside the bag, the Catalan newspaper El Nacional reported.
In a statement on X, the country’s civil defence force said it has activated ’emergency plans in response to the warning of an incident in a package with radioactive material, of low intensity, transported in an aircraft’.
With the Aerocat plan for aeronautical emergencies and the Radcat plan for radioactive emergencies in action, the terminal has since been cordoned off.
More than a dozen fire crews are on the scene, 20 Minutos reported.
Sources toldEl Nacional that five workers have been taken to a medical centre as a ‘precaution’. Several passengers have also been isolated.
A spokesperson for the government of Catalonia, Patricia Plaja, told local media there is no evidence anyone has been ‘seriously affected’.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has been contacted for comment.
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