A mother and two children have been diagnosed with acute myeloid radiation sickness, but the police investigation into the exposure incident has reached a stalemate.

After a month of treatment in the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army Second Artillery Forces in Beijing, the youngsters Bai Lingjin and Xu Hong are in a stable condition and high spirits, their parents told Beijing News on Wednesday.

But Bai's mother Yang Shuangqin fell unconscious on Tuesday suffering from anaemia, the newspaper reported.

Their doctor is not optimistic about the condition of the three patients from Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

"We cannot reach a conclusion yet because this disease is very complicated, and the rate of relapse is very high," Professor Ai Huisheng said.

The radiation exposure was first detected in July at an apartment complex in Jianguo, Daoli District when two residents Xu Hong, a 13-year-old girl, and her grandmother were found to be suffering from radiation sickness.

Their white blood cell and platelet counts were much lower than normal. The grandmother died on October 20.

The radiation source was identified as a metal bar containing iridium-192 that was found in the home of Bai Yuhai, the father of Bai Lingjin.

Five other residents that gave blood samples in Harbin were found to have abnormal levels of blood constituents, and will undergo further checks soon, resident Ge Lebin said. A further 100 residents were found to be healthy after tests.

Bai Yuhai told police investigators he picked up the radioactive metal bar from a coal heap in a boiler room.

"There are no promising clues," Geng Zhandong, director of the community, told China Daily.

The metal bar at the centre of the investigation would ordinarily be used in the detection of flaws inside industrial equipment.

But all 40 factories in Harbin that use such metal bars say they can account for them.

(China Daily November 4, 2005)