Investigation underway into deaths possibly linked to tainted Nokia city water

Third possible victim reported on Wednesday

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Finnish police and public health officials do not believe that there will be any further victims in the crisis resulting from the contamination of the water supply in the City of Nokia.
      On Tuesday, the newspaper Turun Sanomat reported that there are suspicions that the deaths of two women in Nokia may be related to the contamination scandal. On Wednesday it was announced that the possible connections bewteen the water contamination and a third death is being looked into.
      According to the Finnish News Agency STT, representatives of the City of Nokia have denied that the stomach disorders caused by the tainted water would have led to any deaths. The matter had been discussed at a meeting of city officials and nobody attending had any information about any fatalities.
      "During the whole water crisis nobody at the Nokia Health Centre has died except one person, and that death was not caused by contaminated water", says head physician Eila Kujansuu.
      Meanwhile, police are aware that there is a very low threshold to investigate all questionable cases of death in Nokia. Currently, officials are looking into three deaths to see if the water scandal might be invovled.
     
Two women, aged 52 and 81, died at the Tampere University Hospital last week. Both had consumed tap water in Nokia during the contamination crisis, and sought treatment for stomach disorders, but the exact causes of their deaths remains unknown.
      Forensic pathologist Sirkka Goebler expects the causes of death to come out in post-mortem examinations, and the role of the tainted water will be ascertained.
      Police say that the two women had other diseases as well.
     
On Wednesday it was announced that officials are looking into the death of a 45-year-old man as being possibly linked with the tainted water supply.
      The man had been found dead at his home on December 5th. An autopsy is to be performed to determine the cause of death.
     
Stomach disorders are a rare, but possible cause of death.
      "A physically fit person will rarely die of a stomach disease. It would have to be a small child or an old person, or then the patient would have had to suffer from other diseases", Goebler says.
      Tampere police ordered an investigation, but at least so far no crime is seen to be invovled. However, if the tainted water proves to have been a factor, legal action is possible.
      Hannu Kallioniemi of the Tampere police emphasised on Tuesday that nobody is under suspicion yet. "No concrete connection can be shown yet. The answer will come only after several weeks of investigation."
      However, there is an investigation into allegations of an unlawful valve setup in the waterworks which is believed to have let treated sewage into the drinking water supply. Suspects in the case have been interrogated for reckless endangerment.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia water crisis eases (10.12.2007)
  Contaminated water crisis continues in Nokia (7.12.2007)
  A thousand Nokia residents believed to have had symptoms after consuming contaminated drinking water (3.12.2007)

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