On the morning of July 2, 1956, three explosions involving scrap thorium occurred at the Sylvania Electric Products' Metallurgical Laboratory in Bayside, (now Bay Terrace) Queens, New York.
The plant's medical director stated to the press at the time that the employee who died as a result, Oliver Blaber, had succumbed to "complications caused by third-degree burns".
Blaber's son would later cite the death certificate, which listed "thorium poisoning".
Victims of the explosions were treated at Flushing Hospital, where both Blaber's mother and wife worked.
[1][2] The role of radiation was downplayed, especially to assuage fears that a nuclear explosion had occurred.