BRITAIN:Friends mourning the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko again accused Moscow's intelligence services yesterday, as the British home secretary confirmed that traces of radioactivity have been found at 12 locations across London.
These included two British Airways Boeing 767s grounded at London's Heathrow airport, where a third aircraft - a Boeing 737, leased to Transaero, Russia's first privately-owned airline - was also investigated.
A fourth aircraft belonging to BA is also currently awaiting inspection in Moscow, while John Reid indicated that a fifth aircraft is of interest to the British authorities, and that the number under suspicion might rise further.As British Airways tried to contact an estimated 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff involved in a safety alert currently spanning some 221 flights, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) stressed that the risk to those caught up in the alert was likely to be extremely low.
In a Commons statement updating MPs on the widening inquiry into the death of Mr Litvinenko - who died of radiation poisoning last Thursday after traces of radioactive polonium-210 were found in his body - Mr Reid said health officials believed the traces found on one of the two BA aircraft which had shown contamination posed "no residual public health risk". Experts suggested that polonium-210 could be present in locations, including aircraft, either because it had leaked from a container or because it was present in peoples' bodily fluids.
Of those members of the public expressing concern about possible exposure, at least 69 had been referred to the HPA as a precaution. Mr Reid said of these, 18 had been referred to a specialist clinic.
The HPA said it was in constant contact with the National Health Service (NHS) following complaints about inadequate information available to those ringing the health service hotline number, and complaints about standard procedures denying advice to some people calling from abroad. HPA chief executive Pat Troop said specialists had worked through the night on a detailed risk assessment of the first two grounded jets at Heathrow.
They were scanning the aircraft for traces of alpha radiation, the type emitted by polonium-210, the deadly element with which Mr Litvinenko was poisoned. However, Mr Troop stressed that, as alpha radiation cannot pass through skin or even paper, the risk of contamination was likely to be low.
The media spotlight had been on police investigations initially focused on Mr Litvinenko's movements prior to his sudden illness, including the London sushi restaurant and a west end hotel at which he reportedly met a number of contacts on November 1st.
However, the confirmed radioactive traces were at 12 out of a total of 24 locations which have been or are being monitored.
An inquest into the death of Mr Litvinenko was formally opened and adjourned yesterday, and an autopsy will be carried out today .
At the opening of the inquest, Mr Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb suggested the main police interest was on a Moscow-Heathrow flight on October 25th, just five days before the poisoning.
"This tells you that the police are looking for the ways of delivery of this material into London, and reinforces the theory that the origin of this material that killed Alexander was in Moscow," he said.
Mr Goldfarb added: "We still believe this is a murder perpetrated by agents of Russia's intelligence services."
British Airways delayed telling 36,000 passengers and staff that they may have been exposed to radiation by 24 hours because of a dispute with the UK government over handling the crisis, it emerged yesterday. (Additional reporting Guardian).