The object, which was not further described, was isolated and sent from the port of Novorossiisk to a radiation monitoring center in the nearby Krasnodar region for inspection, said Sergei Kozhemyaka, a duty officer at the ministry’s southern Russian branch, AP reported.

He said the object was emitting 4,500 microroentgens an hour, which is hundreds of times normal radiation levels, according to Russian public health officers. It arrived at the port on January 14th on a train carrying scrap metal for export from the Saratov region, Kozhemyaka said, according to AP.