Accidents|According to Otkes, the Dragsvik accident was caused by several shortcomings in both planning and implementation.
Accident Investigation Center According to (Otkes), the Dragsvik accident was caused by several shortcomings in both the planning and execution of the conscripts’ training.
In October of last year, a serious accident occurred during the physically demanding level test of the coast guards of the Uusimaa brigade in Dragsvik, Raasepor. Nine conscripts in heavy combat gear were in danger of drowning when they mistakenly landed on a troop transport boat in water that was too deep.
On Wednesday, Otkes published a report and held a press conference on the investigation of the accident.
One of the conscripts, a 19-year-old woman who was doing voluntary military service, sank deep into the water and was seriously injured. He was underwater for about ten minutes. The other eight conscripts in the group were slightly injured.
Director of investigations, director of Otkes Kurt Kokko told the press conference that all conscripts who jumped into the water got into trouble in the water. A few conscripts fought for their lives, Kokko stated.
This is how events unfolded
The conscripts arrive at the scene of the accident around 12:40 p.m
The coastal jaegers’ level test, or the so-called beret march, starts on Monday. On Tuesday, the group of nine conscripts will start the last tick of the exercise, i.e. crossing the waterway, at 12:11 from Syndalen and arrive by boat at Dragsvik’s Pioneer Beach at around 12:40. When approaching the shore, the master of the vessel stops the boat about 20 meters from the shore.
The conscripts are tired and cold. They have slept only a few hours during the entire placement test. Crossing the water at a temperature of about 10 degrees and it has been cold in the wind. The temperature of the sea water is also about 10 degrees.
The conscripts jump from the bow, the water deeper than expected
In accordance with the training order, the master of the ship informs the conscripts that the training has ended. He then announces that the ship has figuratively hit a mine and started to sink. The captain orders the conscripts to take off their life jackets, jump into the water and wade to shore.
There are ambiguities in the instructions given to the captain of the boat as to whether the conscripts were meant to swim or wade. According to Otkes, some of the conscripts assumed that taking off their vests would have indicated that they would be wading in the water. They hadn’t practiced leaving the boat or going ashore before.
The conscripts take off their life jackets and jump off the bow of the ship. Conscripts jump at a distance of about 22 meters from the shore, where the water depth is at least 1.8 meters. In addition, there is about a meter of mud at the bottom.
Contrary to what conscripts expect, their feet don’t even touch the bottom. Many fall below the surface. Three of them don’t immediately resurface.
The life jackets were told to be left in the boat, as the water was supposed to be wading deep. In addition, life jackets were needed for the following people to be transported in the boat, Otkes’ report says.
The conscripts were wearing field uniforms, high boots, helmets, shrapnel vests and combat vests when jumping. In addition, they had a backpack, change of equipment and an assault rifle with a magazine. Before jumping into the water, some of the conscripts had put a backpack on their backs and some had thrown the backpack into the water to use it as a flotation device. The assault rifles were either on the back or in the hand.
However, the conscripts did not have GPS locators, even though they were mentioned in the risk assessment.
The conscripts are calling for help
After jumping, panic sets in. The conscripts who were on the surface of the water are shouting for help. Two of those who were under the surface make it back to the surface, and four conscripts make it to the shore under their own power. The 2nd leader of the exercise, who arrived at the beach by chance, notices the situation and starts to pull those who have reached the shore to dry land. The group leader, who was saved on the shore, returns to the water to help the others. At the same time, it is noticed that one conscript is still missing and under the surface.
The search for the lost conscript begins
They start looking for the conscript who got lost under the surface and in the reeds on the beach. At the same time, the master of the ship had driven the boat to a nearby pier and observed the seriousness of the situation. He calls the exercise’s situation center for help.
The first emergency call is made at 12:43
The first emergency call is made at 12:43. It is played by a conscript who was involved in the accident. The 2nd leader of the exercise had ordered the conscript to call for help while he was in the water himself looking for the drowning person. The emergency call takes almost 8 minutes, because the emergency operator asks the same questions many times.
First aid and emergency services arrive
The first units of the West Uusimaa rescue service are alerted at 12:44 and are at the destination four minutes later. The first first aid unit arrives at the accident scene a little more than seven minutes after the alarm. The situation at the accident site is confusing and hysterical. Some of the conscripts have made it to the beach, and regular staff have also arrived. Some of them are looking for someone who has drowned.
The conscript was under the surface for ten minutes
The lost conscript is found when the foot of the 2nd leader of the exercise who was looking for him hits something solid underwater. However, the 2nd leader of the exercise cannot bring the conscript to the surface alone and has to move closer to the shore for a while to gather strength. Then the 2nd leader of the exercise and the group leader try to bring the conscript to the surface, but it does not take to succeed.
Finally, with the help of a lifebuoy, the conscript can be lifted to the surface and pulled to shore. The conscript was under the surface for approximately 10 minutes.
What was in ruins can be revived
On the beach, first aid determines that the conscript, who was drowning, is lifeless and begins CPR. He can be revived. At 1:57 p.m. he is transferred to the ambulance. From the ambulance, he is transferred to a helicopter and with it to Meilahti Hospital. The helicopter arrives at the hospital around 3:10 p.m.
The other rescued conscripts are gathered together and directed indoors to shower, change into dry clothes and eat. The Uusimaa brigade will inform about the accident at 3:30 p.m.
I’m going to lose the conscript who was forced to stay for ten minutes was able to swim and had enjoyed swimming before. He was hospitalized for 16 days after the accident.
In addition, several people who were involved in the accident and the exercise have been diagnosed with psychological symptoms after the accident. However, no permanent health damage has been found so far, Otkes’ report states.
The accident occurred due to several reasons
In the past years, the similar exercise has ended on a gentle and hard-bottomed beach. The new location, where the accident also happened, was commissioned in the spring of 2023.
According to the Otkis report, the conscripts had already drowned in the same place during the spring training. However, no announcements were made about this, and therefore there was no reaction to it in view of the autumn training.
There are challenges in reporting practices, and the focus is now on improving them, stated the leading occupational and service safety manager, lieutenant colonel, at the press conference Ville Rosenlund From the defense forces.
According to Otkes, there are challenges, for example, in how conscripts themselves recognize what is part of surviving a demanding exercise and what is abnormal.
I took it according to the report, the practical operation of the exercise that led to the accident and advance intelligence were the responsibility of the inexperienced boat captain without clear instructions. According to the plan, there were no personnel on the beach.
The captain of the boat was a contract soldier who had started in a temporary post after his conscript service in July 2023. He participated for the first time as the captain of the boat in the seventh tick of that exercise and transported conscripts to Pioneer Beach for the first time.
“Staff turnover, lack of resources and rush make it difficult to train staff and transfer tacit information. If, in addition, the regulations and instructions are unclear, this entity does not sufficiently support demanding performances. The issue may not be corrected either, because not enough is learned from the mistakes made”, says Kurt Kokko of Otkes in the press release.
According to Otkes, the risks related to beaching had not been assessed or adequately prepared for, and the instructions given to the boat’s captain were insufficient. The conscripts who were involved in the accident were exhausted, because the exercise had already started the day before and was heavy.
In practice, the accident was caused by a lack of clarity about who is responsible for the conscripts in the water, i.e. whether the regulations applied to the situation on land or at sea apply, Kokko stated at the press conference.
Police investigates accident as a service crime, gross negligence of injury and causing danger.
In addition Otkes spoke at Wednesday’s press conference about the investigation into the Ivalo skydiving accident. In March 2023, two paratroopers were injured while performing a jump exercise from a helicopter.
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