Salisbury: UK police declare 'major incident' near town where Skripals poisoned

0 0 July 4, 2018 Edit this post

A general view shows the main entrance to Salisbury District Hospital in Salisbury, southern England, on March 6, 2018 where a man and a woman remain in critically condition which sparked an ongoing major incident which started on March 4. British police raced on March 6 to identify an unknown substance that left a former Russian double agent fighting for his life, in what a senior lawmaker said bore the hallmarks of a Russian attack. Moscow said it had no information about the "tragic" collapse of the man, identified by the media as Sergei Skripal, in the quiet southern English city of Salisbury on Sunday, but said it would be happy to cooperate if requested by British authorities. Specialist officers from the counter-terrorism squad are helping investigate the incident, which also left a 33-year-old woman -- reported to be Skripal's daughter Yulia -- in a critical condition in what is feared to be a poison plot. / AFP PHOTO / Chris J Ratcliffe (Photo credit should read CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/AFP/Getty Images)

By Samantha Beech, CNN

A "major incident" has been declared in the southern English town of Amesbury after two people may have been exposed to what authorities describe as an "unknown substance."

The incident happened just a few miles away from Salisbury, where British police say Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent living in the United Kingdom, and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in March.

It is not clear exactly what the duo in Amesbury, a man and a woman each in their 40s, may have been exposed to.

The two were found unconscious in a property Saturday and are currently in critical condition, according to police in Wiltshire, the county in which Amesbury is located.

They were initially believed to have fallen ill after using crack cocaine or heroin, but are now "receiving treatment for suspected exposure to an unknown substance," Wiltshire Police said in a statement.

"Further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident," it added.

A number of areas, believed to be where the individuals frequented before they fell ill, will be cordoned off as a precautionary measure, police said.

Salisbury District Hospital is open as usual and is advising people to still attend routine appointments unless they are contacted to state otherwise.

A Public Health England (PHE) spokesman said: "The current advice from PHE England, based upon the number of casualties affected, is that it is not believed that there is a significant health risk to the wider public. This will be continually assessed as further information becomes known".

The March incident in Salisbury sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia after British investigators blamed Moscow for the attack.

Russia has denied the allegations, but more than 20 other countries kicked Russian diplomats out of their countries in a show of support for the UK.

Both Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia have since been discharged from hospital.

CNN's Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report