Authorities have found traces of radiation on two British Airways jetliners in London, grounded a third plane in Moscow and asked passengers on more than 200 flights to come forward as investigators widened their search for clues in the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
British Airways said it had been told the risk to the public was low.
All three planes had been on the London-Moscow route, the airline said on Wednesday. In the past three weeks the planes had also travelled to routes across Europe, including Barcelona, Frankfurt and Athens.
It was not immediately clear how the radioactive traces got on the aircraft. Authorities refused to specify whether the substance found was polonium-210, the rare radioactive element that was discovered in Litvinenko’s body after his death on November 23.
About 33 000 passengers travelled on 221 flights on the three planes, airline spokesperson Kate Gay said. Three thousand crew and airport personnel had contact with the planes. She said the airline was working closely with police.
Authorities refused comment on what aroused their suspicions about the planes. However, Litvinenko had said before he died that a group of Russian contacts who met him on the day he fell ill had travelled to London from Moscow.
A former colonel with Russia’s Federal Security Service, Litvinenko had been a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin before his death.
Screening
After the discovery of high doses of polonium-210 in his body, Britain’s Health Protection Agency began a screening programme for people who visited the same venues as Litvinenko on November 1. Traces of radiation have been found at six sites visited by the ex-spy.
British Airways officials said the British government contacted them late on Tuesday and told them to ground the planes to allow investigators looking into the death of the former intelligence agent to test for radiation.
Two planes at London’s Heathrow Airport tested positive for traces of radiation. The third plane has been taken out of service in Moscow awaiting examination, the airline said.
“The airline is in the process of making contact with customers who have travelled on flights operated by these aircraft, which operate within Europe,” a British Airways statement said, adding: “British Airways understands that from advice it has been given that the risk to public health is low.”
The airline has published a list of the flights affected on its website, and told customers on these flights to contact a special help line set up by the British Health Ministry.
In a deathbed accusation, Litvinenko blamed Putin for his poisoning, a charge Putin strongly denied.
Britain’s Home Secretary, John Reid, who chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, said the tests on the planes were part of a wider scientific investigation into sites that could be linked to Litvinenko’s death.
Contamination
Earlier on Wednesday, Italian security expert Mario Scaramella — one of the last people to see Litvinenko before he fell ill — said tests have cleared him of radioactive contamination.
Scaramella came from Rome to meet Litvinenko at a sushi bar in London on November 1 — the day the former intelligence agent first reported the symptoms that ultimately led to his death at a central London hospital.
“I am not contaminated and have not contaminated anybody else,” Scaramella said by telephone.
Scaramella, who returned to London to undergo tests and talk with the police on Tuesday, said he was in security protection without revealing his location.
More than three dozen staff at the two hospitals that treated Litvinenko will be tested for radioactive contamination, Britain’s Health Protection Agency said earlier on Wednesday.
A coroner will perform an autopsy on Litvinenko on Friday, “subject to appropriate precautions”, in a bid to pin down the cause and circumstances of the death, said the local authority responsible, Camden council.
Doctors had sought expert advice on whether Litvinenko’s radioactive body posed a threat to those performing the post-mortem.
A coroner’s inquest will be opened on Thursday and then adjourned until the police investigation is complete, the council said. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Sue Leeman, and Ariel David in Rome, contributed to this report