Cairo - The Egyptian authorities said on Tuesday that an object they took from a home where officials reported finding three dead people was a radioactive needle used for detecting radiation levels.
A special unit of the Egyptian army team had isolated the object, which was 6cm long and 2,5cm in diameter," said Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif.
"The object was transported to the (Egyptian) Atomic Energy Authority, where experts indicated it was a radioactive needle used in radioactivity detection equipment to measure large containers and hospital X-ray machines," he said.
Following Monday night's operation, Sherif said the danger had now been completely removed from the home of the victims in the village of Mit Halfa, 10km north of the capital Cairo.
He added that no other radioactive source was found, following a sweep of the area by the Atomic Energy Agency.
Egyptian officials and police said a father and two children died, and five other children were seriously ill after being contaminated by the radioactive object. - Sapa-AFP