"Novichok" alert triggers evacuation in Belfast as chemical exposure claim investigated
A woman has claimed she came into contact with the Novichok nerve agent, prompting a major incident response in Belfast.
Emergency services are currently at the scene in the east of the city.
Firefighters have cordoned off part of Harper Street in the Short Strand area shortly after 10.15am.
The woman’s condition is not yet known.
Emergency services were called to reports a woman claiming she had been in contact with the nerve agent, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
Three ambulances and at least four fire engines were at the scene, as well as other response units.
The contact with Novichok is yet to be verified.
Harper Street residents have been asked to evacuate their homes as the emergency services investigate the claims.
Photos from the street show firefighters wearing PPE and other emergency service workers in hazmat suits.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement: "Police and emergency services are currently in attendance in the Harper Street area of east Belfast on Wednesday 9th September.
"We are aware of online speculation in relation to the nature of this incident, at this time, there is not believed to be a wider threat to the public."
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said: "Firefighters were called to reports of a chemical incident on Harper Street, Ballymacarrett, Belfast.
"Firefighters assessed the incident alongside other emergency services and 1 person was left in the care of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. Firefighters left the scene at 11.41am."
Novichok, which is Russian for newcomer, is the name for a family of nerve agents, used as chemical weapons.
It works by blocking a key enzyme in the body, causing the nervous system to go into overdrive and triggering uncontrollable muscle contractions.
This can lead to breathing and heart failure, ultimately causing death by suffocation or cardiac arrest.
The nerve agent was used as a poison in the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for British intelligence agencies, on March 4, 2018.
Occurring in the town of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Mr Skripal fell ill, as well as his daughter, Yulia Skripal.
The pair spent weeks in hospital in a critical condition, before making a recovery.
Dawn Sturgess, mother of three, died from Novichok poisoning four months after the Sailsbury attack.
She sprayed what she thought was perfume on her wrist, after her friend Charlie Rowley, found the bottle in a bin in Salisbury.
He gave it to her while the pair were in Amesbury, seven miles north of Sailsbury and Ms Sturgess fell ill within 15 minutes on June 30.
Ms Sturgess died on July 8, 2018.
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