British Airways Passengers Snarled Up In Spy Probe

Thousands of British Airways passengers sought reassurance from the airline on Thursday after police investigating the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko found traces of radiation on two aircraft.BA says the risk to health is low. But it faces a huge task tracing passengers who used these planes, and one more now held in Moscow pending tests, over some 200 flights, beginning with a November 3 London-Moscow service shortly after Litvinenko fell ill.

The outspoken critic of Putin died last Thursday of radiation poisoning and significant amounts of radioactive Polonium 210 were found in his body. From his deathbed, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his death.

The Kremlin denies any involvement, though British authorities have asked Moscow for help in investigations into what they term a suspicious death.

BA has set up helplines to give guidance to 33,000 passengers on affected flights. Many others who visited other places in London linked to Litvinenko and found to have radiation traces have already contacted medical authorities.

Two of the Boeing 767 planes, found to have “very low traces” of radiation, are being held at London’s Heathrow Airport and a third in Moscow is awaiting tests.

“It will remain in Moscow until we have assurance from the UK government that it is safe for our crew to fly it back,” a BA spokeswoman said.

A spokeswoman for Britain’s Counter Terrorism Command, leading the investigation, declined to say what the significance of the flights, which were not necessarily taken by Litvinenko himself, might be.

Radiation was detected at the sushi bar where Litvinenko met Mario Scaramella, an Italian KGB expert, on the day he fell ill.

Scaramella denied suggestions he had played any role in the poisoning.

“This is all completely absurd,” he said adding: “I am not being investigated or a suspect. I am collaborating with the investigations, which are headed in every other direction.”

Traces of radiation have been detected at several more sites, including Litvinenko’s home, a hotel he visited, the offices of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and the offices of Erinys, a security and risk management company.

London police had said they were also searching the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel Piccadilly and another London address.

BA investors shrugged off concerns that the radiation scare would frighten off passengers. But it is another public relations setback for Europe’s third-largest carrier, which has suffered four successive summers of disruptions from industrial action and security alerts.