Sounds like a very similar chain of events to the Goiânia_accident [0]
It's a Uruguayan folk song about the accent, it's a really nice song but very very sad.
(If you don't understand Spanish, you might enjoy it anyway).
Whoa. I wonder if some people have genetics making them slightly more tolerant of radiation.
This is a horrifying read too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_radiation_acci...
Bad interface design and bad engineering practices leads to multiple deaths.
Example detector: http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/14400_files/5_13.jpg
http://www.window.state.tx.us/border/ch09/cobalto.html
The hapless Sotelo--who, remarkably, seems to have escaped serious contamination--was arrested in 1990 on theft charges. In the prison where he still awaits sentencing, the guards call him El Cobalto--the Cobalt Man.
Maybe the Mexicans already realized what they stole (and the danger of it)