Camera With Sealed Radioactive Material Missing In Texas; 'Don't Try To Open' Officials Warn

Texas officials have issued a warning asking people not to dismantle an industrial camera that has gone missing in the Houston Area. Although the radioactive material is sealed within multiple layers of protection, the device should be handled with caution, authorities said.

Statewide Maintenance Company, which owns the 53-pound radiographic camera, has been actively searching for the lost machine since it went missing on March 9. The device's last known location was 4040 Little York Road in Houston, Texas Health and Human Services said in a news release.

The portable machine helps to find hidden structures and is mostly used in the construction and oil industries. It went missing from a truck parked at a restaurant when workers went to buy lunch, NBC News reported.

According to officials, the radiation levels outside the camera are not dangerous. "The material is sealed within multiple layers of protection, and the risk of exposure is very low," the news release said.

People are warned not to open the device if found, as dismantling could be hazardous.

"If found, don't try to open the camera. Call 9-1-1 or the DSHS phone line at 512-458-7460 to report the location of the camera," the department said.

Authorities have already searched within a five-mile radius of the restaurant, but their efforts were in vain. A reward has been announced for its return. The device costs between $15,000 and $20,000, said Steve Steen, a spokesman for the company, NY Times reported.

"It does have a radioactive symbol on the side of it, but if somebody were to get into the part of the capsule where the radioactive material is, it's extremely hazardous, like losing fingers," Lara Anton, a Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson, told NBC News.

Earlier this year, officials in Australia discovered a radioactive capsule that was lost following a week-long search. A Caesium-137 capsule, which was smaller than a coin, fell off a truck while it was taken from Rio Tinto's Gudai-Darri mine to a facility in the suburbs of Perth in Western Australia. The radioactive capsule was part of a gauge that was used to measure the density of iron ore feed. The capsule that emitted radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour was eventually located using specialist detection equipment.