British Police trace a second man with radiation poisoning

London, Dec 2 (UNI) The British police said a man who met Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko the day he was killed has also fallen ill, triggering suspicion that he too might have been poisoned.

The Anti-Terror Group is examining whether the killers of Litvinenko also tried to poison Mario Scaramella, an Italian security expert who met the Russian on the day that he fell ill.

Toxicologists confirmed yesterday that Mr Scaramella had also been contaminated by a "significant" amount of deadly polonium-210.

The level of the substance raises suspicion as it was more than he could have ingested from simple physical contact with Litvinenko.

Radiological experts also say that the amount is more than he could have inhaled from being close to Litvinenko had he coughed or sneezed. Cobra, the Government's emergency planning committee, met after learning of Mr Scaramella's contamination.

Doctors say it may be several weeks before the Italian academic knows the long-term effects of the contamination and whether he is likely to develop cancer. Mr Scaramella has ingested nothing like the amount that Litvinenko did, which explains why he has not shown the same acute symptoms, but doctors say that there is a longer-term risk of him developing cancer.

One health expert told The Times last night, "There is no known way of getting rid of polonium-210 from the body, so it does cause long-term damage." Mr Scaramella met the former KGB colonel on November 1 at the Itsu sushi bar in London that the men used as a rendezvous.

The two were critics of the Kremlin and both appeared on a death list drawn up by a group of former KGB agents.

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