Twelve bus shelters toppled along Highway 9 in central Finland

Twelve bus shelters were found toppled along Highway 9 in central Finland, and crews began putting them upright on Monday, Yle reports. The shelters are spread over several kilometres between Jämsä and Korpilahti, a district of Jyväskylä.

The wooden shelters were overturned but not broken or vandalised. Tomi Kujala, a road maintenance project manager at the Central Finland Regional Vitality Centre, said the number was exceptional. Individual shelters are occasionally toppled, but he had not previously heard of so many being brought down.

Putting the shelters upright requires a crane truck and several people, Kujala said. The work was expected to cost about 2,000 euros, with little disruption to traffic. The affected stops are temporarily out of service while work is under way.

Police in Central Finland are investigating the incidents as criminal damage. Kujala said the centre would seek to identify those responsible, but did not plan preventive measures, saying it would be difficult to stop someone determined to topple a shelter.