A radioactive capsule that fell off a truck in the Australian outback – sparking a radiation alert and a search of hundreds of miles of road – has been found.

Western Australia’s emergency services minister confirmed the silver capsule, which emits the isotope Caesium-137, had been located.

Authorities have been involved in a needle-in-a-haystack hunt for the 6mm by 8mm capsule and were slowly retracing the truck’s 870-mile (1,400km) route with radiation-scanning equipment.

There was a warning of potential radiation burns or sickness if anyone came close to the capsule.

Driving past it from a distance was described as much lower risk however, similar to the radiation emitted by an X-ray.

The capsule was owned by mining firm Rio Tinto and was part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore.

Vibrations during transportation are believed to have caused screws and a bolt to come loose from the gauge, allowing the capsule to fall out.

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The search area was vast as the truck covered a distance longer than Britain as it journeyed from the Gudai-Darri mine to Perth.

Police, the defence department, and Australia’s nuclear safety agency were all involved in the search.

They have been slowly scouring the state’s Great Northern Highway as well as other sections of the route used by the ‘road train’ – a truck pulling multiple trailers.

Some 410 miles (660km) had been searched by Tuesday.

Rio Tinto, which gave the capsule to another company to transport, apologised for the “very concerning” incident and said it had launched its own investigation.

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