The Nature Conservation Agency of Latvia has dismissed an assumption carried by Finnish and Latvian media that sulphur ponds in Kemeri National Park might be the source of a foul stench that could be felt in the Finnish capital Helsinki last weekend, the agency’s spokeswoman Maija Rena told LETA.
In Helsinki, there were reports last Sunday of foul smells throughout the city. Those catching a whiff have described the odor as reminiscent of a rotten egg or sewage, the Finnish news outlet Yle reported.
Responding to queries about the stench, the Helsinki City Rescue Department took to messaging service X to report that the source was likely the bog in Riga’s Kemeri National Park.
According to Yle meteorologist Matti Huutonen, the wind on Sunday was not blowing from the east, but from the southwest and south.
The Nature Conservation Agency’s spokeswoman said that the suplhur ponds indeed exude a strong smell but that it cannot affect air quality in Helsinki, which is more than 400 kilometers away from Kemeri. The sulphur ponds are one of the unique natural treasures of Kemeri National Park and the only place in Europe where such ponds can be found so close to sea.
The Nature Conservation Agency has created a special footbridge in the Raganu (Witch) Bog in Kemeri National Park to give nature tourists the opportunity to explore this rare natural site.
The origin of the emission in Finland remains a mystery, even though numerous authorities collaborated to search for its source. The Helsinki Rescue Department, Helsinki Police, Finnish Border Guard, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finnish Environment Institute and the Emergency Response Centre were all involved in the investigation.
Source: BNS
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