Child laborer in Turkey's northwest hospitalized after taking radioactive material home

A child laborer in the northwestern province of Sakarya was hospitalized after taking a radioactive material home on the supposition that it was a type of prayer bead. 

The 17-year-old construction worker, identified only as Eyüp B., took the piece of iridium-192 home, subjecting himself and his family to radioactivity, daily Habertürk reported on March 14.

Eyüp B. moved to Sakarya's Arifiye district with his seven-member family after a devastating earthquake in the eastern province of Van in 2011. His father, also a construction worker identified as Mehmet Emin B., was diagnosed with lung cancer, forcing Eyüp B. to take responsibility for taking care of the family. 

Eyüp B. was obliged to quit his high school and started working as a metal worker for 50 Turkish Liras a day. Since the salary was not enough to pay for his father's chemotherapy expenses, Eyüp B. sought work on the construction of the Kızılcık Dam, which offers a daily wage of around 110 Turkish liras. 

After he found out that he could not work there because he was underage, Eyüp B. applied for the job in October 2016 with the ID of a cousin, Tarık B. 

Two days after beginning to work on the construction site of the dam, he found an object that he thought was a string of prayer beads and put it in his pocket. The object, however, was actually iridium-192 that had fallen from a device used in the construction site.

Eyüp B. took the radioactive material home and showed it to his mother. His 19-year-old pregnant sister, Kübra, 24-year-old brother İbrahim and 1.5-year-old niece Hira Nur also played with the object. 

A short while after, Eyüp B.'s eyes started to turn red and bruises appeared on his body. In addition, he started vomiting and...