2 Britons clinging to life after Novichok exposure

Investigation at forefront again

LONDON — Two British citizens remained in critical condition Saturday, breathing with the assistance of ventilators and surrounded by the world’s leading experts on Novichok poisoning, their odds of survival being closely tracked by Britain and Russia.

Late Saturday, a local police officer was being treated at the same hospital in connection with the investigation, police and hospital officials said.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed more than a week ago to traces of a Soviet-developed nerve agent. They likely came into contact with it by picking up a vial, syringe or container discarded by a would-be assassin who went to the city of Salisbury in southern England months ago to target a former Russian spy, police said.

Both victims had been in treatment after years of substance abuse, which compromises the liver’s function as the body’s detoxifier. That makes them more physically fragile than the three previous poison- ing victims in Salisbury: the former spy, Sergei Skripal; his daughter Yulia Skripal; and a British police officer who became ill after responding to the poisoning.

If either Sturgess or Rowley dies, it would present British and Russian authorities with a new diplomatic scenario. Among the surprises of the March attack on Skripal and his daughter is that they did not die, most likely because they received a relatively small dosage.

The police officer, Detective Sgt. Nick Bailey, also recovered.

Their recoveries meant the attack fell off the front pages, allowing investigators to proceed with a slow, methodical search for evidence that might support their leading theory: Russian agents were behind the attack.

The emergence of additional victims “will give it a renewed sense of urgency,” particularly if one of them dies, said James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, a research group in London.

If either victim dies, he added, “it becomes a murder investigation, and it’s involving a British national rather than a Russian national.”

Matt Dunham / Associated Press A police specialist takes photos at a shelter in Salisbury, England, where one of the two recent poisoning victims lived.