Georgia radioactive material find

TBILISI, Georgia -- Three woodcutters are seriously ill in hospital after finding suspected highly radioactive materials in a Georgia forest.

Officials said on Saturday that the find of two containers believed to hold strontium-90 has thrown local villagers into a panic.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency are due to visit the site, near the village of Dzhvare, about 220 kilometres (135 miles) southwest of the capital Tbilisi, said Soso Kukushadze, head of the Environment Ministry's radiation and nuclear security department.

The two containers are believed to have been used as signal beacons during the construction of a nearby hydroelectric plant 30 years ago and were found last month

An area within a 500-metre diameter around the containers has been fenced off, Kukushadze said.

A special task force was being assembled to deal with the problem, but he said when they would have the equipment to remove the strontium is a question of financing.

"We hope the government allocates the necessary money," Kukushadze said.

The containers are emitting radiation at a rate of 15 roentgens an hour from a distance of 1.5 metres (5 feet), and the levels are higher than that at a closer distance -- levels far above normal.

About 3,000 villagers live in the area, and many have started to report headaches and other symptoms in a case of what Kukushadze called "radiation phobia."

"There is absolutely no threat to the health of the residents of Dzhvare," Kukushadze said.