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LONDON – A middle-aged British woman, who came into contact with the neurotoxic agent of the Soviet era known as Novichok, died Sunday night in a southern hospital from England where she was exposed to the military chemical.
Prime Minister Theresa May said that she was "appalled and shocked by death" and announced that the incident was the subject of an investigation into a murder.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, was one of five people sick after being exposed to the nerve agent in the Salisbury area.
The former Russian spy and double agent Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter, Yulia, were poisoned four months ago in what the British authorities considered a deliberate attack. After resurrecting from comas, both were released from the hospital to an undisclosed location. A police officer involved in the investigation into the March incident was also hospitalized to be exposed, but was released shortly thereafter.
Sturgess lived in a supportive institution that helps residents with alcoholism or drug addiction. Police said she had been exposed to the chemical last weekend, absorbing it in her hands. She survived eight days.
Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed and became ill a few hours later. Rowley remains in critical condition and in a coma at Salisbury Hospital
Friends told the British press that Rowley often sought in garbage dumpsters for items to be swapped or sold
a Military research center, identified the agent used against the Skripals, Sturgess and Rowley as Novichok
The watchdog of chemical weapons UN confirmed the discovery in the Skripal case.
The British government accused Russia of attacking the Skripals Senior British officials said that such an attack would not have occurred without the knowledge of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Either it was a direct act of the Russian state against our country," said May in March, "the government has lost control of this potentially catastrophic neurotoxic agent and l dropped into the hands of others. "
After the attack of the Skripal, Britain's two dozen Russian diplomats suspected to be intelligence agents. The United States, European countries and Canada supported, expelling more than 100 Russian diplomats.
Russia fought back with similar expulsions.
The death of a British citizen, caused by a neurotoxic agent of the Soviet era President Trump is preparing this week to travel to Brussels for a NATO summit first then in the London area to meet May and the Queen, followed by a meeting with Putin in Helsinki next week.
Death also occurs when Russia hosts the World Cup and as England prepares to play its quarter-final in Moscow on Wednesday.
Britain did not directly point the finger at Russia in the second case involving Sturgess and Rowley, claiming that the investigation, conducted by the Counter Terrorism Policing Network, is ongoing.
A line of inquiry suggests that after the Skripals' attack by the neurotoxic agent, the attackers disposed of vials, blisters or a kit of mixing – or d? other contaminated items – and that Rowley and Sturgess found the material and were accidentally exposed
Neil Basu, Deputy Commissioner, UK Counter Terrorism "Nothing indicates that they have visited the. one of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal last March, "he added. year, "said Basu." We are not able to tell if the nerve agent came from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to. "
The peaceful medieval town of Salisbury is worried about the second case of contamination and many are upset that the conservative lawmaker George Freeman tweeted that his death "raises very serious questions" about assurances given by health officials that the risk to the general public was low.
Karla Adam contributed to this report
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