A woman has been seriously injured in a head-on collision between a military transport vehicle and a car in Liperi, eastern Finland.
The crash took place around 8am Wednesday at the intersection of Polvijärventie and Vaiviontie near Joensuu in the North Karelia region, when the lorry struck a car.
The motorist, a woman in her 30s, was badly injured. She has been taken by helicopter to Kuopio University Hospital, some 130km away.
Including its driver, the truck was carrying 14 conscripts from the North Karelia Border Guard's Border Jaeger Company. Three were in the vehicle's cab and 12 in the back. According to Eastern Finland Police, none of the service members were seriously injured.
Conscript suspected of bodily injury, endangering traffic
Eastern Finland Police suspect the conscript who was driving the lorry of endangering traffic safety and bodily injury. The transport vehicle struck the left side of the car at a stop sign.
Polvijärventie was closed to traffic while rescue and clearing operations were underway.
Lt Col Jussi Napola of the North Karelia Border Guard tells Yle that the accident occurred during a normal exercise, which has been halted for Tuesday.
Napola says the conscripts have returned to their base at Onttola in the border municipality of Kontiolahti and have been offered crisis counselling.
In October 2017, four people died when a military transport vehicle collided with a train in Raseborg, southwest Finland. Last autumn, prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against the recruit who was driving the lorry.