Two people in England have been confirmed to have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, the same chemical weapon that was used against an ex-Russian spy earlier this year.
British police at Scotland Yard confirmed that the mysterious agent that appears to have caused a couple in their 40s to become critically ill was Novichuk.
The couple collapsed at a residence four days ago, The Associated Press reported. The couple were found collapsed eight miles from where the former Russian spy and his daughter were found after being exposed to the same agent four months ago, the AP reported.
Police first thought the couple, identified by friends to the AP as 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, 45, were suffering as a result of using contaminated heroin or crack cocaine.
Neil Basu, the assistant commissioner for specialist operations which handles counter terrorism operations in the U.K., said that the latest victims are both British nationals and are local to the area.
An ambulance was called to a residence in Amesbury following the woman collapsed shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday morning, and another ambulance was called that afternoon in response to the collapse of the man.
The initial assessment by doctors suggested they had fallen ill from contaminated drugs but on Monday, "due to concerns over the symptoms the man and woman were displaying," samples from the patients were sent to a different laboratory for further study, Basu said in a statement. That further analysis led to the conclusion that the couple had been contaminated with the same nerve agent that was used in the earlier attack.
The couple are in critical condition and are being treated in a hospital.
Investigators concluded that they were exposed to the same type of nerve agent as the former spy and his daughter, but they are unsure if it was from the same batch.