LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Scientists investigating the outbreak last week of bird flu in a British flock of turkeys said on Thursday there might be a link with an outbreak in Hungary in January.

Contradicting statements by British officials in Brussels on Tuesday that it was unlikely there was a Hungarian link, the government said there was indeed a possible connection.

"Our investigations have shown that one possible route of infection is poultry product imported from Hungary," said deputy chief vet Fred Landeg.

"The company involved have voluntarily agreed to temporarily suspend the movement of poultry products between their outlets in the UK and Hungary until the investigation is complete," he added.

The cull of 160,000 turkeys on a farm in Suffolk, eastern England, where the H5N1 strain of bird flu broke out was completed on Monday.

Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports after the country's first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in farmed poultry that sparked the cull.

Workers wearing white protective suits, gloves and masks took the livestock away in crates to be gassed after discovery of the disease on the farm run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews.

The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003 and although it remains largely an animal disease, it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds. The virus has killed 166 people in the past four years.

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