Two injured when MRI machine explodes
The Associated Press
Published on: 12/07/06
Two people were injured when an MRI machine they were moving at a medical office in Kennesaw exploded from a mix of chemicals inside, officials said.
The workers for Turnkey Medical Engineering Inc. were moving the Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner at Atlanta Diagnostics Center when helium and liquid nitrogen combined to blast the end bell off the device, said firefighter Denell Boyd of the Cobb County Fire Department.
One had shrapnel in the back of the head and the other an injured arm, and they were taken to the hospital although the injuries were not considered serious, Boyd said.
The sheetrock on an inside wall was damaged but the structure, a one-story building in an office complex, was sound, she said.
Boyd said officials believed 500 liters of liquid nitrogen remained inside the tank, but they were unsure because a gauge was broken.
