People have complained they “can’t breathe” after a mysterious smell started emanating from two nations.
Emergency services in Helsinki, Finland, said on Sunday that locals have reported an unusual odour emanating from the area and Russia, with some people complaining online.
The smell has reportedly struck residents across several dozen miles, with reports emerging from within one 60 km (37 miles) area along Finland’s southern coastline.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Helsinki City Rescue Department – which coordinates the Finnish capital’s emergency preparedness – said a “strong smell in the air has been noticed from time to time”.
The service said that its representatives and other officials are “investigating the matter” as others take to social media to complain about a “gas” like smell.
Fontanka, a Russian media outlet, reported on March 31 that residents in several areas in St Petersburg, 300 miles from the Finnish border, reported the smell as well.
The publication quoted one local as saying it reached Vasilyevsky Island, an islet on the city’s westernmost flank that looks out onto the entrance of the Gulf of Finland.
Social media user Dasha Nukolova said they woke up at 7am and closed their windows due to the smell, saying: “It smells like a mixture of garbage, burnt rubber and burning.”
Another had a similar complaint, stating they “can’t breathe either” and woke up experiencing unpleasant symptoms.
Masha Artamonova said: “There’s a terrible smell, like gas. I woke up with a headache and couldn’t breathe.”
While unpleasant, the smell is reportedly not dangerous, according to both Russian and Finnish authorities.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute does not believe the smell is dangerous, the Helsinki rescue service said.
The service said: “According to the current information from the air quality measurements of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the smell does not pose a health risk.”
Fontanka cited local authorities as saying monitoring stations had not detected higher than usual levels of air pollution.
And a Russian Environmental Management Committee reported that their own monitoring stations did not record increased pollution.
