Another couple in the south of England poisoned by Nowitschok

Another couple in the south of England poisoned by Nowitschok

LONDON. The British couple is seriously ill in the same hospital in the city of Salisbury as former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal (67) and his daughter Julia (33).

Victims According to the police, it is about a 45 year old man and 44 years old from the region. Bild: apa

Four months after the attack against the Skripals in southern England, a man and a woman were again poisoned by the Nowitschok explosive. That told Scotland Yard late Wednesday night. The British couple is seriously ill in the same hospital 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 on Thursday

It is not clear whether the couple was deliberately targeted, said Scotland Yard's Neil Basu to reporters in the evening. 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 can be interconnected is clearly an issue we need to pursue," 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 scripts.

In March, parts of downtown Salisbury were 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 established 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.

After 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 that time

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