WESTBURY, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- A man who was sucked into an MRI machine on Long Island earlier this week has died, officials announced Friday.
The man succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead by a hospital physician at 2:36 p.m. on Thursday.
Nassau County police received a 911 call around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday about the mishap at Nassau Open MRI on Old Country Road in Westbury.
According to police, a 61-year-old man entered an MRI room unauthorized as a scan was in progress.
He was wearing a “large metallic chain” around his neck at the time, “causing him to be drawn into the machine,” police said.
MRIs, short for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, use extremely powerful magnets to see inside the body without using radiation. Anyone who enters them is asked to remove all metallic objects from their body.
After being sucked into the machine by the magnets, the man suffered a medical episode, police said.
He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was listed in critical condition until his death.
It's unclear if the victim was a patient at the facility or why he walked into the MRI room. His exact injuries weren't immediately known.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.