Couple in the south of England poisoned by Nowitschok | Tiroler Tageszeitung online

London (APA / dpa / Reuters) – Four months after the Skripals attack in southern England, a man and a woman were again poisoned by explosive Nowitschok. That told Scotland Yard late Wednesday night. The British couple is seriously ill in the same clinic in the city of Salisbury as former Russian double agent Sergej Skripal (67) and his daughter Julia (33).

According to the police, the victims are 45 and 44 years old. Years of the region. First, the woman collapsed on Saturday, later the doctors had to bring the man to the hospital. The Government Security Council, the so-called Cobra Committee, meets for an emergency meeting Thursday

It is unclear if the couple was intentionally targeted, said Neil Basu of Scotland Yard to reporters this night. Scientists should also clarify if the poison was identical to the substance that had been used in Skripals. Under the term Nowitschok directs a whole group of some nervous poison. "The possibility that these two cases may be interconnected is clearly a matter for us to investigate," Basu said.

The British media had already speculated that the couple might have been involuntarily exposed to the poison that had been used in the attack on the Skripals.

In March, parts of downtown Salisbury had been sealed after the scripts had been poisoned with the officer of war. They were sitting unconscious on a park bench. Britain has accused Russia of being behind the crime as a brain. Nowitschok was manufactured in the former Soviet Union.

The badbadination of the Skripal triggered a serious international crisis. Many Western states, but not Austria, have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats. Moscow responded with similar measures. The Skripals are now living in an unknown place.

Following the recent incident, some areas of Salisbury and the couple's home, Amesbury, about 13 kilometers to the north, were closed as a precautionary measure. Residents in the area reacted with insecurity and demanded more information from the authorities. Initially, the health authority had not anticipated a "significant health risk" for the public. Spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the government's crisis team had met to discuss the new incident.

The couple reportedly visited a religious event before falling ill on Saturday. Officials initially badumed that both could have taken contaminated heroin or crack and are therefore in critical condition.

The Chemical Weapons Research Laboratory near Porton Down was the subject of an investigation. There, the Nowitschok neurotoxin had been identified in the Skripal case. Independent investigations by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed the result at the time.