• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Most radioactive man kept alive for 83 days as he 'cried blood' and 'skin melted'

Home> News

Updated 15:12 1 Feb 2023 GMTPublished 11:39 1 Feb 2023 GMT

Most radioactive man kept alive for 83 days as he 'cried blood' and 'skin melted'

Desperate efforts were made to save his life, but he begged doctors to stop

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

More than 20 years ago, a freak chemical reaction at a power plant in Japan left one of its technicians living in agony, kept alive by doctors as he 'cried blood' and his 'skin melted'.

Hisashi Ouchi was helping a colleague pour litres of uranium into a huge metal vat at the Tokaimura Nuclear Power Plant in 1999.

However, due to a miscalculation, the liquid reached 'critical point' and released dangerous neutron radiation and gamma rays into the atmosphere.

None of the men involved had been trained to carry out such a delicate task, which it was later discovered involved 16kg of uranium, when the legal limit was just 2.4kg.

Advert

According to reports, due to the fact workers were manually transferring the solution, they had no way of measuring how much had been used.

Thirty-five-year-old Ouchi was most exposed to the radiation, suffering burns, becoming dizzy and vomiting violently afterwards.

This was to be the start of his 83-day nightmare.

Hisashi Ouchi suffered extensive burns during the incident at the Tokaimura Nuclear Power Plant.
Hisashi Ouchi suffered extensive burns during the incident at the Tokaimura Nuclear Power Plant.

Ouchi was found to have absorbed 17 Sieverts (sv) of radiation, the highest level suffered by any living human and more than twice the amount that should kill a person.

Advert

The emergency responders at Chernobyl were exposed to just 0.25sv.

Ouchi was rushed to the University of Tokyo Hospital following the incident and the area surrounding the plant was put on lockdown.

Doctors found that Ouchi had no white blood cells and was in need of extensive skin grafts and multiple blood transfusions.

The exposure also reportedly left him 'crying blood', as he bled from his eyeballs.

Despite the efforts of doctors to keep him alive, a week into his treatment, Ouchi is said to have begged them to stop.

Advert

He reportedly shouted: "I can't take it any more! I am not a guinea pig!"

He later said that he 'wanted to go home' and demanded medical staff 'stop it'.

Almost two months on from the incident, on the 59th day of his time in hospital, Ouchi's heart gave out three times.

Tokaimura Nuclear Plant.
Public Domain

However, at the request of his family, doctors were able to get it started again.

Advert

But on 21 December that year, Ouchi's body eventually gave out and he died as a result of multiple organ failure.

The technicians' supervisor, Yutaka Yokokawa, also received treatment, but was released after three months with minor radiation sickness, before going on to face charges of negligence in October 2000.

Nuclear fuel company JCO later paid $121 million to settle 6,875 compensation claims from people and businesses who had suffered from or been exposed to radiation from the accident.

Featured Image Credit: Public Domain

Topics: News

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

X

@SmithersDom

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Man who killed twisted murderer Jeffrey Dahmer explains why he did it
  • UK's 'most dangerous prisoner' who's kept in segregation asked for grim present in jail
  • Survivor of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people recalls moment he realised he was alive
  • Former Navy SEAL shares hardest part of job as he explains what it feels like to take a life

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    People call for ‘genius’ car park feature to be used everywhere

    It's perfect for those who hate parking between two cars

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Woman loses £25,000 after posting video of her dogs to Instagram

    Meta reportedly suspended the business owners accounts after she posted a video of her dogs

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    How much money you would have made if you invested £1,000 in Apple 10 years ago

    If you invested in Apple 10 years ago, you wouldn't have regretted it

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Tourist fighting for life after being dragged from tent and attacked by bear in night on tour

    Natalya was asleep in her tent when the bear attacked

    News