Hunt for Irish guests at spy radiation hotel

Six Irish people who stayed in a top London hotel the same time Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned are being sought by officials, it was confirmed today.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it has located four of the six names given by UK officials earlier today and will continue to trace the whereabouts of the remaining two.

Hundreds of guests and customers who were in the Millennium Hotel and its bar on November 1 are being offered tests to determine if they have been contaminated with radiation.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs stressed that the tests are precautionary, but that those contacted will be urged to call health chiefs in the UK as well as their own GP and local health authority.

The spy fell ill after meeting three Russian men at the hotel on November 1 and died in hospital just over three weeks later. He was buried on Friday in a sealed coffin.

Traces of polonium-210 are reported to have been found in a fourth-floor room at the hotel, as well as on a cup from the hotel’s Pine Bar.

All seven staff working at the bar on the day of Mr Litvinenko’s visit have been contaminated with polonium-210.

Two police officers working on the murder inquiry have also tested positive for polonium-210.

A team of nine Scotland Yard counter-terrorism detectives is currently in Russia to investigate Mr Litvinenko’s poisoning.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it had been contacted by the British Foreign Office in relation to six Irish people were also staying at the hotel around the same time.

“We were in a position today to contact four of the six Irish people listed by the British Foreign Office as having visited or stayed at the Millennium Hotel and the Pine Bar at the hotel on or about November 1, the date on which the late Mr Litvinenko may have received the fatal dose of polonium-210,” said a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“We expect to contact the remaining two people tomorrow and as a precaution we will be asking them to contact the NHS-dedicated number in Britain set up to deal specifically with this tragic event.

“They should, however, also contact their GP and the HSE here in Ireland.

“It must be stressed that this is precautionary, but the Health Protection Agency in the UK have revised its risk assessment to include people who visited the hotel following significant concentrations of polonium-210 being detected in the urine of some staff members of the Millennium Hotel.

“They may have become infected from surfaces and furniture.

“Minister Dermot Ahern is being kept briefed on the situation and has asked that every assistance be provided to the individuals concerned.”