Reception centre covers cleaning costs for graves of boys who drowned in Kalajoki

The reception centre where three boys who drowned in Kalajoki last summer had lived will pay for the cleaning of their desecrated headstones, Oulu Parish Union’s burial services director Sanna-Kaisa Rivasto confirmed on Tuesday.

Five Muslim graves at Oulu’s Intti cemetery were vandalised with black paint in late May, including the headstones of the three boys, who have no relatives in Finland. The Kokkola reception centre declined to comment to Yle.

Rivasto stated that while families typically bear the cost of cleaning vandalised graves, the boys’ case required another solution. “If no other payer had been found, we would have covered these cleaning costs ourselves,” she said.

She condemned the vandalism as deliberate, noting it specifically targeted the Muslim section of the cemetery—a first for Oulu. Enhanced surveillance, such as cameras or patrols, is now under consideration for the area, though the cemetery’s size makes full coverage impractical.

Oulu police are investigating the incident as property damage and violation of grave peace but have yet to identify suspects. Communications chief Tero Väyrynen cited the lack of surveillance footage and eyewitness accounts as obstacles.