Midsummer celebrations keep rescue officials busy
Midsummer celebrations have kept rescue officials busy across Finland. Most of their work dealt with the consequences of heavy drinking. Officials were also called out to help people in distress on inland waterways. A total of eleven deaths this midsummer have been reported so far.
It was also a busy midsummer weekend for the police.
For example, police in south eastern Finland had to deal with 120 calls on Midsummer Eve and on Saturday. Most of their work was dealing with rowdy behavior and drunkenness.
In Parkano, central Finland, a man died in a fire in a three-story apartment block.
On the roads, one death was reported from an accident at Juankoski while on Highway three at Parkano in central Finland, two young people died in a crash between a light motorcycle and an ambulance. On Thursday, a man was killed when his car swerved off the road and hit a tree in Hanko, while on Friday, a motorcyclist died in a head-on collision in Ulvila.
So far, four people have drowned. The cases were reported from Äänekoski, Rautalampi and Saarijärvi in central Finland and from Parainen in south west Finland. Last midsummer only two cases of drowning were reported.
Police apprehended at least 60 motorists of drunken driving and 14 people under the influence of alcohol while in charge of a vessel on inland waterways. Ten more were charged in the Gulf of Finland.
Residential fires have also caused damage over the weekend. In Kuopio, a five home terraced block was seriously damaged when fire raged through the attic.
In Akaa, a two storey veterans' home was completely destroyed by fire early on Saturday morning. No one was in the building at the time.
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