An aerial image of the scene of an accident that claimed the lives of four teenagers in Nurmijärvi, Southern Finland, on Saturday, 4 January 2024. Police are working on the assumption that the car skidded rear-first into the railing of the bridge before falling upside down into the river. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)
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FOUR TEENAGERS died as a car fell from a bridge into a river in Nurmijärvi, Southern Finland, on Saturday.
Eastern Uusimaa Police Department on Sunday reported that the car is presently believed to have skidded down a hill and collided rear-first into the railing of the bridge, with the force of the collision throwing the car upside down into the river.
A passer-by contacted the emergency call centre after seeing the car in the river shortly before 4am on Saturday. First responders recovered the bodies of four 17–19-year-old locals from the car.
The accident took place on a wooden bridge on Tulvatie, a private road that was described as narrow, winding and undulating by YLE on Sunday. The road descends toward the bridge from both directions, and investigators have yet to determine which direction the car was heading in. Preliminary forensic analyses indicate, though, that neither alcohol nor speeding was associated with the accident.
Leif Malmberg, the detective chief inspector leading the pre-trial investigation at Eastern Uusimaa Police Department, told Helsingin Sanomat on Friday that police are also ascertain which of the young people was driving the car.
The victims, he added, were “apparently on a drive”. “By all accounts it’s a case of maximum misfortune,” said Malmberg.
The incident is provisionally investigated as a traffic accident and causing a traffic hazard. Also involved in the investigation are officials from the Safety Investigation Authority of Finland (OTKES).
Pasi Anteroinen, the CEO of the Finnish Road Safety Council, stated to Helsingin Sanomat that traffic accidents that claim four or more lives are rare in Finland.
“An accident that claims four lives is classified as a major accident. We’ve had an average of one major accident a year in recent years. These kinds of accidents are rare on one hand, but too recurring [on the other],” he said to the daily newspaper on Saturday.
Although such accidents continue to recur, he reminded that traffic safety has improved significantly in recent decades. In the 1990s, an average of four major accidents took place every year.
Overall, around 180 people, including 30–40 young people, lose their lives in road accidents every year in Finland. The national goal is to reduce the number of road fatalities under 100, with young people accounting for no more than 20 of them.
Anteroinen stated that various measures will be required to bring down the number of young people who lose their lives in traffic accidents: re
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
