British Airways Says Plane Will Fly to London for Radiation Check

Dec. 1, 2006
The plane is among three grounded by the airline amid the investigation into the radioactive poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.

British Airways said Friday that one of its planes that has been parked at a Moscow airport will fly to London later in the day for a radiation check.

The plane is among three grounded by the airline amid the investigation into the radioactive poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Litvinenko was poisoned by the rare radioactive element polonium 210, and investigators are looking into radioactive traces founded on three British Airways planes that have traveled the Moscow-London route since Nov. 1, when Litvinenko is believed to have been poisoned.

Britain's Health Protection Agency said Thursday night that it had confirmed that passengers on one of two planes grounded at London's Heathrow airport had not been put at risk and the plane had now been cleared to fly again. But officials were still monitoring the possible exposure of passengers on the other.

It was unclear how the traces of radiation found their way on board the planes.

The press office of British Airway's Moscow office said the British government had allowed the Boeing-767 currently parked at Moscow's Domodedovo airport to return to London on Friday.

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