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Domestic news -
General
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Monday, 23 June 2008 15:14 |
Eight people lost their lives over the course of the Midsummer weekend in Finland.
One person, presumed drowned, remained missing late on Sunday.
The most serious incident happened in Kouvola on Saturday when a conscript was stabbed to death and two others seriously wounded in the knife assault. Another two homicides took place in Helsinki.
On the bright side, the number of deaths by drowning, at a single confirmed one and another presumed, is the lowest this decade, having stood at nine in 2005.
An elderly man was found dead in a sauna in Keuruu and another person on a shore in Lappeenranta. Police said criminal intent was not suspected in either case.
Two people died on the highways, in Haukiputaa and Espoo, both on Friday.
As is the norm at Midsummer, the police and rescuers were kept busy by drink-drivers, drunken disturbance, small fires and brawls.
The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard said this year's Midsummer had been more peaceful than the average one as there had been considerably fewer distress calls than normally at the same time of the year.
No one died in fires, the most destructive of which was in Joutseno where a 10-million-euro bio-waste treatment works burned to the ground.
/STT/ |
