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Coast Guard rescues 50 passengers from broken-down water bus off Helsinki coast

An engine problem led to the vessel drifting near Seurasaari in the archipelago before being towed to safety by rescue services.

Photo shows a Coast Guard rescue vessel on lake water.
File photo of a Coast Guard rescue vessel. Image: Matias Turunen
Yle News

The Finnish Coast Guard came to the aid of a passenger ferry which suffered engine problems and was drifting in the sea near the island of Seurasaari off the coast of the capital.

There were about 50 passengers on board the vessel, the Coast Guard said.

"There was an engine problem and it had shut down in the middle of the journey. The vessel began to drift and was preparing to anchor," Marko Siro, Director of Maritime Rescue at the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard, told Yle.

The engine problems were reported to the coast guard by telephone, Siro added.

"Units were quickly mobilised. First a small rubber boat held the vessel in place, and then a larger rescue boat arrived and towed the water bus to the dock," he explained.

Passengers were eventually able to disembark from the vessel at the pier near Taivallahti, to the east of Seurasaari island.

"No medical intervention was required, as the ship gave people shelter," Siro said.

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