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Emergency services attend 'medical incident' in Salisbury Salisbury on high alert after two people taken ill in restaurant
(about 2 hours later)
Emergency services have sealed off a restaurant in Salisbury and closed streets after two people were taken ill. The city of Salisbury is on high alert again after two people were taken ill in a restaurant close to where the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal collapsed after being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok.
Wiltshire police said the area surrounding Prezzo restaurant had been closed to the public while they worked to establish what caused a “medical incident” involving a man and a woman on Sunday. Streets were closed off and people were told to stay inside buildings as experts in hazmat suits were spotted working in and around the Prezzo Italian restaurant.
South Western ambulance service said medics were called at 5.38pm. Four ambulances were sent, including a hazardous area response team, a spokeswoman said. The patients were conscious at the last update and were being treated at the scene, she added. Police said the man and woman were involved in a “medical incident”, but did not mention any link to the novichok poisonings. Tests are being carried out on them to establish the cause of the illness. Public Heath England has been informed.
The ambulance service alerted the police at around 6.45pm. Firefighters also attended the scene. A source briefed by the emergency services told the Press Association that medics alerted the police because the symptoms were consistent with novichok poisoning but stressed the symptoms could have other causes.
Witness Sam Proudfoot, 16, posted a video on social media of emergency services on scene. “The ambulance crew at the site took the decision that the symptoms seemed consistent with novichok poisoning, which is why they called their colleagues in the police,” the source reportedly said, adding: “The symptoms of novichok poisoning and particular types of narcotic abuse are very similar.”
Trouble in Salisbury again on New Street near the cathedral, no sign of what’s happened but there’s 1 fire engine, 1 ambulance and 4 police cars, a man in a full white body suit with a mouth-mask and police not allowed to tell us what’s happening @BBCNews @SpireFM @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/3XpNVkH9or The leader of Salisbury city council, Matthew Dean, urged the public not to leap to conclusions, pointing out there have been a number of false alarms since Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with novichok in March.
A witness in the nearby Cafe Rouge restaurant said they could see police bagging something up in the street outside. But tensions have been high since two Wiltshire people, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were poisoned in June apparently after finding a bottle containing novichok discarded following the Skripal attack. Sturgess later died.
Tensions are heightened in the cathedral city because of recent novichok poisonings. There have been a number of false alarms since the Skripals fell ill, including incidents when streets were cordoned off. Earlier this month British police named two men they allege carried out the attempted murder on Skripal and claimed they were officers from Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. The men, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, came forward to say they were tourists in the city to visit Salisbury cathedral.
A worker from nearby restaurant Cosy Club said: “They’ve cordoned off the whole of New Street. There’s currently six unmarked police cars, two fire engines, two ambulances and three marked police cars. People aren’t exactly panicked. There’s not a lot you can do.”
A worker at The New Inn said: “Police have been very vague about the whole thing. We don’t know what’s going on. As soon as the emergency services turned up, people started evacuating. We’ve only got a few customers left.”
The Italian restaurant is a short walk from Queen Elizabeth Gardens, which was until recently closed off after 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess was fatally poisoned by the nerve agent.
Police said she was killed by the same chemical used in an alleged hit by Russian military intelligence officers on former spy Sergei Skripal.
The Wiltshire chief constable, Kier Pritchard, said: “Our media team will look to provide an update as soon as further information comes to light. If you can help us with any information at all, don’t hesitate to call 101. Thank you.”
Wiltshire police said: “Police were called by the ambulance service to Prezzo, High Street, Salisbury at 6.45pm today following a medical incident involving two people.
“As a precautionary measure, the restaurant and surrounding roads have been cordoned off while officers attend the scene and establish the circumstances surrounding what has led them to fall ill.”
Statement regarding incident in Prezzo, High Street, Salisbury - pic.twitter.com/GJOxYYW7JOStatement regarding incident in Prezzo, High Street, Salisbury - pic.twitter.com/GJOxYYW7JO
Police have consistently said they cannot be certain there is no more novichok in Salisbury.
Two people claiming to be witnesses said the two who fell ill were Russians. This was not confirmed by the authorities.
The Prezzo restaurant is between the bench where the Skripals collapsed and the cathedral. It is also close to a park that was sealed off after it emerged that Rowley and Sturgess had been there the day before they were poisoned.
The Skripals visited a different Italian restaurant, Zizzi, in Salisbury before they were taken critically ill, although the police are convinced they were poisoned at Sergei Skripal’s house.
South Western ambulance service said medics were called at 5.38pm. Four ambulances were sent, including a hazardous area response team, a spokeswoman said. Initially the service said the patients were conscious and being treated at the scene. The ambulance service alerted the police at 6.45pm.
Late on Sunday night a police drone was seen flying over the scene.
On Facebook a woman called Amanda Newton said she had been at the restaurant and claimed she had been sitting next to the pair who had fallen ill. She wrote: “We are being taken to a safe place and may need blood tests at Salisbury hospital ... will keep everyone updated ... I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
The BBC said it had been told by someone in Prezzo that the scene was “like armageddon”. The diner, who did not want to be named, said one of those taken ill was a blonde woman in her late 20s.
The woman appeared to be at the table on her own and “kept going away, getting up and coming back again”, it was claimed. The witness added: “When she came back she was hysterical. She called paramedics and the next thing an ambulance turns up and they come rushing in.
“It materialised he [the man who has been taken ill] was up in the toilet. He’d had a fit and they came back in all gowned up with all the white and the masks on.”
The witness told the BBC she herself called the police. “Suddenly we had sirens and it was like armageddon.”
Both the unnamed BBC witness and Newton suggested the pair were Russians but the police have not commented on this.
Witness Sam Proudfoot, 16, said: “I was cycling in the city area. I heard a load of emergency services drive into the high street.
Trouble in Salisbury again on New Street near the cathedral, no sign of what’s happened but there’s 1 fire engine, 1 ambulance and 4 police cars, a man in a full white body suit with a mouth-mask and police not allowed to tell us what’s happening @BBCNews @SpireFM @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/3XpNVkH9or
“When I cycled back they had cordoned off the area. A crowd started to gather as we were curious as to what was happening.
“No one seemed particularly panicked. After the incident response unit drove past someone asked a police officer what was going on but he wouldn’t say.”
Gill Cleary who lives close to Salisbury came into the city to find out what was going on. She said: “I saw one person in a hazmat suit coming out of the restaurant about 20 minutes ago. I think they’re just bring cautious but I can’t help being apprehensive because we don’t know what else is out there.
“We know the sealed bottle has been found but we don’t know what else they’re going to find. It’s quite a bad thing for sleepy Salisbury.”
Understandably people concerned at latest possible incident in #Salisbury but there have been a number of false alarms since the #Skripal poisoning. Rightly the emergency services start with a highly precautionary approach until they know otherwise.
US holidaymakers Mary Harley Pottoff and Roger Potthof were caught up in the drama.
“We started hearing the sirens going around 6.30 then all these police cars started flowing into the area,” said Mary. “They set up a perimeter cordon so fast. A police officer said to us: ‘Forget about your evening here tonight. You need to go somewhere else in town.’”
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