[ad_1]
LONDON – British authorities began a large-scale security investigation after the collapse of two people near Salisbury, the city where, four months ago, a former Russian spy and his daughter were exposed to a deadly nerve agent. Two victims, a man and a woman, both in their forties, fell ill on Saturday in a town house in Amesbury, about eight miles north of Salisbury. They had previously visited gardens near where the spy and his daughter had lost consciousness, police said.
The two recent victims were in critical condition at the Salisbury District Hospital, according to authorities. but said that other tests were underway and that 12 agencies were involved. Samples were sent to Porton Down, the country's leading laboratory for chemical and biological weapons.
The police did not say what prompted them to expand their investigation, but health authorities in the region remained on alert for months. of the nerve agent, part of a strain developed by the Soviets called Novichok.
Police said that an intervention team was initially called home at Amesbury, where a 44-year-old woman had fallen ill. returned a few hours later at the same address, told that a 45 year old man had also collapsed.
On Wednesday, the police cordoned off a number of places where the couple had been before getting sick, including the queen. Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury, just steps from the place where the spy, Sergei V. Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, were hit. They also completed a portion of John Baker House in Salisbury, a service residence.
"Our priority at this point is to understand the circumstances surrounding the departure of these people," said Paul Mills, Wiltshire's deputy chief. Police, which covers the area. The British newspapers identified the two Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess
Sam Hobson, who saw the couple the day they became ill, told Sky News that the woman was in the bathroom when she has made a crisis. , foaming at the mouth. A few hours later, when his friend collapsed, he was sweating profusely, making noises and swaying back and forth.
"There was no answer for me – he did not even know I was there." "He was in another world, he had hallucinations."
The Skripal were hospitalized for weeks after their poisoning in early March. The investigators said that the substance had probably been applied to the handle of the entrance door of Mr. Skripal's house and that it had probably pbaded through the skin for several hours, rendering them unconscious after leaving a restaurant in the center of Salisbury
. Health officials have carried out an extensive decontamination process, warning residents of Salisbury that there might be toxic "hot spots" in some areas, and that a thorough clean-up could take months.
"The chemical does not break down quickly" Boyd, chief scientific advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said at a meeting of the city in Salisbury on April 19th. "You can badume that it's not very different now."
Source link