U.K. police race to find source of new nerve agent poisoning
AMESBURY, England — British police scoured sections of Salisbury and Amesbury in southwest England on Friday, searching for a small vial feared to be contaminated with traces of the deadly nerve agentNovichok.
More than 100 officers were looking for clues in a race to understand how two local people were exposed to a nerve agent that was produced in the Soviet Union during the ColdWar.
Police believe the couple may have come in contact with a contaminated vial or other item discarded in a public place after a March nerve agent attack on exRussian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skirpal, in Salisbury. British officials blamed the Skripals’ poisoning on Russia. The Kremlin denies any involvement
The two new victims — Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45— are in critical condition and were hospitalized June 30 after falling ill within hours of each other.
Ben Jordan, a friend, describedRowley as a scavenger who would pick up cigarette butts and go through the trash cans outside charity shops in search of something he could use or sell.
His habit raises the possibility that Rowley might have picked up a discarded receptacle or another type of contaminated item.
Experts say just a few milligrams of the odorless Novichok liquid is enough to kill within minutes.
Police in special protective gear and breathing apparatus are conducting an extensive search at the John Baker House — listed by theHomeless Link charity as a supported living situation — in Salisbury, where Sturgess was living before the poisoning.