Litvinenko's contact 'well' despite radiation scare

LONDON: Mario Scaramella, a contact of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, was showing no early signs of radiation toxicity on Saturday after testing positive for polonium 210, the hospital treating him said.   

The Italian academic, who met Litvinenko at a London sushi restaurant on November 1 shortly before the Russian fell ill and died, was admitted to University College Hospital on Friday after the radioactive isotope polonium 210 was detected in his body. He has a much lower level of polonium 210 in his body than Litvinenko, a Kremlin critic and defector.   

Scaramella was "well" and preliminary tests showed "no evidence of radiation toxicity", a spokesman for the central London hospital said.   

Doctors are continuing to monitor his condition and further tests are expected.   

In Rome, the health ministry said Scaramella could be out of hospital on Monday. Two Italian doctors who visited him confirmed he was in good health and the latest tests had found only a "very low" incidence of polonium 210 in his body.   

Litvinenko died in University College Hospital on November 23. A large, unexplained quantity of polonium 210 was discovered in his urine and British detectives are trying to unravel the mystery behind his apparent poisoning.   

Meanwhile, all three British Airways planes which were grounded over radiation fears were cleared for use again. Traces of a radioactive substance were found on the planes, which were used for several flights between London and Moscow.   

BA had been trying to contact some 33,000 people who travelled on some 221 flights. A BA spokeswoman said that the flag carrier had taken more than 7,500 calls from worried customers and had 200,000 hits on its website information page.   

In addition, the British no-frills airline easyJet said Scaramella took two of its flights between London and Naples but Britain's Health Protection Agency said there were "no public health concerns" and did not inspect the aircraft.   

The HPA also said that Emirates Stadium in north London, the home of English Premiership football giants Arsenal, had been checked and cleared.   

"An area in the stadium has been checked and there is no risk to public health," they said.   

Arsenal played CSKA Moscow in a Champions League match at the stadium on November 1 -- the same date as the first BA Moscow to London flights whose passengers the airline is seeking to contact.   

The HPA repeated that the risk to the public of polonium 210 exposure remained low.   

As of midnight on Friday, the National Health Service helpline had received 2,974 calls and thought 170 people should be examined. Twenty-four were referred as a precaution to specialist clinics.   

The HPA said that of the 68 urine tests conducted so far, only one -- on one of Litvinenko's adult relatives -- had revealed exposure to polonium 210 and the level of contamination was not significant enough to result in any short-term illness. The HPA did not name the relative but Litvinenko's brother Maxim said on Friday that it was the former spy's widow, Marina.   

Separately, the Greek Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) said on Saturday that four Greeks were undergoing medical tests, the results of which were to be announced next week.   

"The GAEC asked Greeks who had gone to the Millennium hotel in London and the sushi restaurant which Alexander Litvinenko had visited to undergo medical tests," commission head Leonidas Kamarinopoulos said in Athens.   

The number of people undergoing such examinations was likely to triple, he added. Earlier in the day, The Daily Telegraph newspaper published more details from a memo Scaramella reportedly showed Litvinenko at the sushi bar.   

The memo alleged that Russian secret service agents and a veterans group called Dignity and Honour, run by a Colonel Valentin Velichko, were trying to kill off the "enemy No 1 of Russia" Boris Berezovsky and his "companion in arms" Litvinenko. 

It also accused the group of involvement in the death of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed outside her Moscow apartment in October.   

Meanwhile a spokeswoman for Ireland's health authority said the country's nuclear watchdog had failed to find traces of radiation at the hospital where former Russian acting prime minister Yegor Gaidar had been treated, after falling ill with suspected radioactive poisoning.   

And Irish police are now satisfied that Gaidar was not poisoned, the Irish Independent newspaper said.   

Gaidar's mystery illness came the day after Litvinenko's death, leading some to make a connection between the two.   

Elsewhere Finnish carrier Finnair said one of its aircraft had been prevented from taking off from a Moscow airport after traces of radiation were found on board but had later been cleared to fly.   

Passengers had been asked to disembark for radiation tests and further tests on the aircraft showed that radiation levels were normal, Finnish news agency STT reported.