LONDON: Doctors in Britain who treated former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter following their March poisoning in Salisbury have said they initially feared the pair would not recover.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who was visiting from Moscow, collapsed on March 4 on a bench in the city in southwestern England where the former double agent lived.
London blamed Moscow for using a Soviet-made nerve agent known as novichok on the pair, which Moscow has furiously denied, sparking a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Britain.
Stephen Jukes, the intensive care consultant at Salisbury District Hospital, who treated them a week after their admission, said in a BBC interview that once the nerve agent was detected “all the evidence was there that they would not survive.”
Jukes revealed the hospital’s medical team first suspected the Skripals were suffering from an opioid overdose, but that the diagnosis soon changed to a nerve agent poisoning.
The doctors interviewed said that all the initial focus was on simply keeping the pair alive.
The pair were heavily sedated and given large doses of drugs designed to protect them from the effects of the poison and help re-start their bodies’ natural production of a key enzyme.
When a third person involved, police officer Nick Bailey, was admitted with similar symptoms, medical staff said they feared the situation could be escalating out of control.
“There was a real concern as to how big could this get,” said Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing.
She added that she recalled thinking: “have we just gone from having two index patients [to] having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties?’ because we really didn’t know at that point.”
Yulia Skripal was discharged from the hospital in early April while Sergei Skripal was released earlier this month.
Both face uncertain health implications following their exposure, according to the Salisbury medics that treated them.
Asked about their long-term health prospects, Christine Blanshard, medical director at the hospital, said: “the honest answer is we don’t know.”
She added that their cases represented the “total world experience” of treating people who have been poisoned with novichok, adding: “It’s safe to say we’re still learning.”
Medical staff who treated Skripals feared pair would not survive
Medical staff who treated Skripals feared pair would not survive
Russia diverts its naphtha from Oman due to Middle Eastern crisis, data shows
- Strikes have disrupted energy production and shipping, including naphtha loadings and discharges
- Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, most Russian naphtha has been directed to the Middle East and Asia
MOSCOW: Russia has diverted its naphtha cargoes from Oman amid the Middle East crisis as it looks for new buyers, traders said and LSEG data showed, with at least one tanker now heading for Singapore.
Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and US strikes against it have disrupted energy production and shipping, including naphtha loadings and discharges.
Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, most Russian naphtha has been directed to the Middle East and Asia.
Middle Eastern countries are also the top supplier to Asia with the recent disruption forcing Asia’s naphtha margin to four-year highs, while at least one South Korean naphtha cracker operator was considering declaring force majeure and another has cut its operating rate by around a fifth.
The Liberia-flagged tanker, Amfitrion, which loaded in February in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk destined for Oman, last week halted navigation near the Gulf of Masira and on Tuesday turned for Singapore, according to LSEG data.
Five middle-sized tankers carrying a total 180,000 metric tons of naphtha in January departed Russian ports for an offshore STS (ship-to-ship) berth near Oman’s Shinas, shipping data showed. The final destination of these cargoes remains unknown.
According to data from LSEG and traders, Russia also sent two cargoes to Oman’s Sohar in November-December, carrying a total of 190,000 tons of naphtha as its other markets dried up.
India and Taiwan were among the main Asian buyers of Russian naphtha, but recent US sanctions have prompted both countries to pull back. Exports to Venezuela have also fallen to zero this year after US President Donald Trump in December ordered a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the Latin American country.
Though Asian buyers face naphtha shortages, Western sanctions could force traders to shun Russian cargoes. The long navigation from Russia’s Baltic ports to Asia also prevents prompt shipments, market sources said.
