“Enough Plutonium To Contaminate Entire Indian Subcontinent”

In 1965, 4 lbs of Plutonium, enough to contaminate the entire Indian subcontinent, was lost by the CIA at Nanda Devi, in the Indian Himalayas, the source of the Ganges River. The CIA was trying to spy on the Chinese so it sent three top American mountaineers, an Indian team, and a bunch of sherpas, to a mountain to place a listening device which would be powered by 4 lbs of plutonium. The expedition failed because of a storm. The Indian team decided to strap the device around a rock and come back the next year. When the teams went back the next year, an apparent avalanche had wiped the contraption away. The Indian government acknowledges its participation, but the US government still denies it, even though the mountaineers involved were just on ESPN’s sportscenter, and another mountaineer has written a book about the subject