Late in the afternoon, after the sun had gone down, the men discovered two curious objects.
Lying in the forest path were two metallic cylinders.
The objects were smallabout 6 inches tall and 4 inches acrossbut heavy.
One of the men picked one up, but finding that it was hot, dropped it immediately.
Encouraged by the unusual but welcome find, the men changed their plans.
They would use the hot cylinders, whatever they were, to keep themselves warm during the frigid night.
The mysterious hot cylinders the men discovered in the forest.
One of the cylinders had holes on the frame.
There they lit a fire to prepare dinner.
After dinner, they drank some vodka and were settling down for sleep when they felt sick.
They thought it was from the alcohol, even though they each had only about 100 mL.
None of the men could get a wink of sleep.
The vomiting was very intensive and lasted throughout the night.
Late that night, one of the men had repeated diarrhoea.
RTGs are typically used as power sources in satellites, space probes and other remote locations.
Of the eight radioactive sources originally installed, only six were found.
Two of them were missing.
The hot cylinders the three men found in the forest were the missing Strontium-90 sources.
Of the three victims, ones injury was minor and he was discharged after a month of treatment.
One was taken to Paris for burn treatment and he was released after nearly one and a half year.
The third was severely injured.
He was taken to Moscow where he required multiple skin grafts.
After more than two years in the hospital, the third victim died of multiple organ failure.
A recovery team acquires the two Strontium-90 sources.
