Drifting Rowboat Prompts Major Rescue Near Niemi Beach

A drifting rowboat found near Niemi beach in Siivikkalanlahti on Friday morning prompted a large rescue operation, Aamulehti reports.

A dog walker heard calls for help, prompting the Pirkanmaa rescue department to dispatch units and an on-water boat shortly before 9:30. Crews inspected the vessel and towed it to shore. Searches from the air and on the lake found no one. They were called off.

Tuomas Toivola, a local resident, said a medical helicopter remained at the scene for about half an hour, and that an ambulance and police were also present. At about 10:30, duty fire chief Joonas Suikkanen said all rescue units had left and that the boat "did not look as if it had been used, there were no oars or any belongings on the shore or in the boat."

The incident follows other recent searches of Tampere-area waters and beaches, such as an unattended clothes search at Nokkatie beach in Lempäälä that ended with no one found and earlier misidentified ice-rescue alarms on Pyhäjärvi in March.