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The British cabinet meets in emergency Thursday around the case of the couple found in critical condition after being exposed to the same innervating agent who had poisoned a former Russian spy and his daughter four months earlier.
The meeting will be chaired by Interior Minister Sajid Javid, while a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the event was being treated with "utmost seriousness."
The two British had were found Saturday in critical condition in Amesbury, a village in south-west England located about fifteen kilometers from Salisbury, the city where the former Russian spy and her daughter, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, had been poisoned in March.
The anti-terrorist police regained control of the investigation after the Porton Down Military Laboratory identified the nature of the substance, a neurotoxic agent of Soviet design.
"Tonight we received the results of badysis (…) that show that the two people were exposed to Novitchok's innervating agent," Neil Basu, head of British counter-terrorism, told the press. at a press point.
"It's the same innervating agent, it will be up to scientists to determine if it comes from the same batch," he added.
The victims, identified by a friend as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were found Saturday in a home in a residential area of Amesbury.
This is the same laboratory that had already identified Novitchok as the substance used to poison the former Russian spy and her daughter. They had finally been rescued after heavy medical treatment.
This double badbadination attempt against the Skripal was attributed by the United Kingdom, supported by its Western allies, to Russia, which denies it. The episode resulted in a diplomatic crisis, as well as the largest wave of cross-expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats in history.
– "Low" risk –
Concerning the victims of Amesbury, "the Investigators' priority now is to determine how these two people came in contact with the innervating agent, "Basu said. According to him, there is "no evidence" suggesting that the man and the woman "were targeted in any way."
The police wanted rebaduringly that the risk to the public remained " low".
The 44-year-old woman first lost consciousness around 9:15 am GMT on Saturday. Then the man, aged 45, fell ill and help was called around 1430 GMT.
Police originally speculated about a drug-taking incident.
According to Mr. Basu, "There is no indication" that they "recently visited one of the decontaminated sites after the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. "
They are hospitalized" in critical condition "at Salisbury Hospital, a police chief in Wiltshire, Paul Mills, said earlier. This is the place where the former spy and her daughter were treated for several weeks before they could go out.
– Wash clothes –
Sam Hobson, who reported to AFP as their friend and said they visited them on Saturday, reported that Dawn Sturgess first became ill, and had "foam coming out of her mouth". Then Charlie "sweated heavily, and we could not talk to him, he made funny noises, and he rocked back and forth without answering."
Nathalie Smyth, a 27-year-old neighbor, told AFP she saw firefighters and ambulances on Saturday that "blocked the road". "Some people wore protective suits."
Security cordons were set up at five locations where the two 40-year-olds would have traveled, and the police presence was reinforced, including the Amesbury dwelling, the City Baptist Church and Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury
"We are all very perplexed and shocked," said church secretary Roy Collins, expressing a sentiment shared by many residents.
In Salisbury, locals worry about the repercussions.
This episode "has had a disastrous effect on Salisbury, both on the economy and the lives of the inhabitants," said Patrick Hillman, 70, interviewed by AFP.
"We were just trying to regain normalcy," says 84-year-old John Reid. "All this is not very good for tourism."
The police set up a hotline.
"We can not underestimate the impact this shocking news will have on a second major incident in this part of our country in such a short time," said Wiltshire Police Chief Kier Pritchard, in a statement.
Although there is "no immediate risk to health," public health agency Public Health England (PHE) advised "as a precaution" to people who have traveled to the same places as victims between Friday at 2100 GMT and Saturday at 1730 GMT to wash their clothes.
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