Radioactive contamination found on BA plane in Moscow
30/11/2006 16:18 MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti) - Traces of radioactive contamination have been found on board a British Airways passenger plane grounded at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, Russia's Transportation Ministry said Thursday.
Tests on the airliner were conducted by specialists from the Russian environmental protection agency, as part of investigations into the death last week of former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, diagnosed with radiation poisoning.
Two other short-haul Boeing-767 jets owned by BA, which had also traveled the Moscow-London route, also tested positive for radiation Wednesday.
Following the discovery at Domodedovo, Russia's Transportation Ministry immediately reinforced security measures in the country's international airports, which include strict controls over the transportation of liquids and gels, and monitoring radioactivity levels on board foreign passenger airliners.
British Airways earlier said the planes made a total of 221 flights in Europe between October 25 and November 29, and that the company had been trying to contact and advise all 33,000 passengers who traveled on the planes during this period.
However, authorities say the level of radioactivity discovered on the airliners is negligible, and the risk to passengers who traveled on the planes is very low.
The Moscow BA office said the third plane will remain grounded at Domodedovo Airport until official permission to fly the plane is received from the UK government. The return flight will be non-commercial, the office said.
Litvinenko, a Russian intelligence defector and a close associate of fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, died last Thursday in a London hospital. British health officials said Friday a large dose of polonium-210, a toxic, radioactive uranium by-product, was found in his body.
The post-mortem and forensic examination of Litvinenko's body will take place Friday.
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