Police hunt for source of nerve agent

LONDON: The hunt is on for the deadly Novichoktainted item that has left a British couple fighting for their lives.

UK police said they could not rule out more people falling ill as a result of contact with the nerve agent apparently left over from the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Dawn Sturgess (44) and Charlie Rowley (45) were taken ill last Saturday in Amesbury, Wiltshire not far from where the former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with the same substance in Salisbury in March.

The second nerve agent emergency in four months has prompted a diplomatic row, with British Home Secretary Sajid Javid accusing Russia of using Britain as a ‘‘dumping ground for poison’’.

The Russian embassy hit back, accusing the Government of trying to ‘‘muddy the waters’’ and ‘‘frighten its own citizens’’.

One theory understood to be under investigation is that the pair poisoned in the latest incident may have inadvertently found a container — such as a phial or syringe — used to transport the nerve agent for the initial attack on the Skripals and discarded in a public place.

The Metropolitan Police said the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down confirmed on Wednesday the victims had been exposed to Novichok.

‘‘Detectives are working as quickly and as diligently as possible to identify the source of the contamination,’’ the Met said.

‘‘Cordons remain in place at a number of sites in the Amesbury and Salisbury areas that we believe they visited before they fell ill.’’

Novichok remains highly toxic for a considerable period of time, so even the tiniest trace remaining in a container picked up by the victims could account for their severe illness.