From Facebook (link)
There was an article in Finnish, here is the google translation:
Google translation
There was an article in Finnish, here is the google translation:
Google translation
Two fatalities in Finland on the weekend of the 8th of September 2019
- Thread starter BlueTrin
- Start date
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Anyone know any more about these accidents?
I don't have any first hand info. The news articles were very brief especially on the dad and son case. That happened in archipelago in Kustavi in Southwestern Finland. It sounded like a medical emergency but I am just speculating just based on victim's assumed age.
The mine diving accident was in Särkisalo near Salo, Finland. I assume it is the Förby mine. It is an old limestone mine which is considered very dangerous because the upper levels being mined too widely back then and thus being very unstable and collapsing regularly. There was a larger accident in the 80's where one of the tunnels collapsed and swallowed a whole road and one car without its passengers who managed just barely escape the disaster. it was only pure luck that a bus full of passengers just briefly avoided a disaster by just seconds, they were just around the corner but they could stop in time. The 80's accident left a sinkhole of over 100meters in diameter and dozens of meters deep and it later extended regularly swallowing some small buildings and such. one person died when he fell in a newly opened very deep crack which could not be clearly seen. I have understood that the collapse extends to lower levels close to 200 meters depth. The deepest levels of the mine are about 500m as far as I know. The limestone formation is in pretty small horizontal area but extends downwards in steep angle which explains why the mine is so deep when still not occupying much land area.
The whole area is fenced and restricted and the mine divers /cave divers in our club consider it being very dangerous for any activities. The owner of the area has stated that it is life threatening to enter the fenced area because of the ever changing unstable rock conditions and newly opening cracks and faults which can open anywhere under the vegetation and which can be dozens of meters deep.
I don't know where the victim was from or what he and his buddy where actually doing in the mine...which part of it they dived. The news said that one diver died in the accident and his diving buddy made it out alive but was hospitalized. the nearest chamber is in Turku so probably he was airlifted there I assume.
There is lots of small quarries and old mines in the Kemiö-Salo-Lohja area. Some of them are dived regularly, for example the Ojamo mine. The Parainen limestone quarry in the west is the largest one working in the area at the moment.
there is couple of ones like Aijala and Särkisalo(the Förby mine) which are unstable and should be avoided as far as I have heard. there was for example an incident couple of years ago where one of the Aijala mine tunnels collapsed and huge amounts of water flooded the nearby area including the village's football field and the nearby road and fields. luckily no one was injured but the water was somewhat contaminated with lead, copper etc. metals from the old mine and there were serious fears it would affect the farmland and local river ecosystems.
it would be interesting to get the mine maps of them someday to see how they were mined in the past and what makes them different to other more stable mines in the area
The mine diving accident was in Särkisalo near Salo, Finland. I assume it is the Förby mine. It is an old limestone mine which is considered very dangerous because the upper levels being mined too widely back then and thus being very unstable and collapsing regularly. There was a larger accident in the 80's where one of the tunnels collapsed and swallowed a whole road and one car without its passengers who managed just barely escape the disaster. it was only pure luck that a bus full of passengers just briefly avoided a disaster by just seconds, they were just around the corner but they could stop in time. The 80's accident left a sinkhole of over 100meters in diameter and dozens of meters deep and it later extended regularly swallowing some small buildings and such. one person died when he fell in a newly opened very deep crack which could not be clearly seen. I have understood that the collapse extends to lower levels close to 200 meters depth. The deepest levels of the mine are about 500m as far as I know. The limestone formation is in pretty small horizontal area but extends downwards in steep angle which explains why the mine is so deep when still not occupying much land area.
The whole area is fenced and restricted and the mine divers /cave divers in our club consider it being very dangerous for any activities. The owner of the area has stated that it is life threatening to enter the fenced area because of the ever changing unstable rock conditions and newly opening cracks and faults which can open anywhere under the vegetation and which can be dozens of meters deep.
I don't know where the victim was from or what he and his buddy where actually doing in the mine...which part of it they dived. The news said that one diver died in the accident and his diving buddy made it out alive but was hospitalized. the nearest chamber is in Turku so probably he was airlifted there I assume.
There is lots of small quarries and old mines in the Kemiö-Salo-Lohja area. Some of them are dived regularly, for example the Ojamo mine. The Parainen limestone quarry in the west is the largest one working in the area at the moment.
there is couple of ones like Aijala and Särkisalo(the Förby mine) which are unstable and should be avoided as far as I have heard. there was for example an incident couple of years ago where one of the Aijala mine tunnels collapsed and huge amounts of water flooded the nearby area including the village's football field and the nearby road and fields. luckily no one was injured but the water was somewhat contaminated with lead, copper etc. metals from the old mine and there were serious fears it would affect the farmland and local river ecosystems.
it would be interesting to get the mine maps of them someday to see how they were mined in the past and what makes them different to other more stable mines in the area
just saw a news article with little more information of the Sarkisalo fatality.
they were diving in an old mine shaft in the aforementioned Forby mine. it is not a quarry, it is a real vertical mine shaft in the middle of forest going to who knows how deep and the water level seems to start couple of meters below ground level. It seems the divers were trespassing in the restricted (fenced and dangerous) area and they used long aluminium ladders to descend some meters to the mine shaft to get to the water. they had also some kind of rope track to haul gear around to the ladders. One of them died in the shaft and the other was rescued and transported to hyperbaric treatment to Turku.
The deceased was around 40 years old.
images from the Finnish yellow press, you can see the shaft there:
https://img.ilcdn.fi/x5S1GKEGAY13c6...793011e2b43b8a76b121b8abd10dcb070756436f0.jpg
https://img.ilcdn.fi/EULsmZw6d93l9S...bcc50bbbd100cb2368c4a810bf4212ddfc85f0417.jpg
they were diving in an old mine shaft in the aforementioned Forby mine. it is not a quarry, it is a real vertical mine shaft in the middle of forest going to who knows how deep and the water level seems to start couple of meters below ground level. It seems the divers were trespassing in the restricted (fenced and dangerous) area and they used long aluminium ladders to descend some meters to the mine shaft to get to the water. they had also some kind of rope track to haul gear around to the ladders. One of them died in the shaft and the other was rescued and transported to hyperbaric treatment to Turku.
The deceased was around 40 years old.
images from the Finnish yellow press, you can see the shaft there:
https://img.ilcdn.fi/x5S1GKEGAY13c6...793011e2b43b8a76b121b8abd10dcb070756436f0.jpg
https://img.ilcdn.fi/EULsmZw6d93l9S...bcc50bbbd100cb2368c4a810bf4212ddfc85f0417.jpg
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