Unpleasant smell across southern Finland and St. Petersburg remains a mystery

In a perplexing turn of events that captivated both local communities and international news outlets, an intense, sulphur-like smell pervaded large areas of Southern Finland, including Helsinki, Espoo, and Porvo. Despite exhaustive efforts by Finnish authorities, the origin of the malodor, which sparked widespread concern on Sunday, remains unsolved.

The Helsinki Rescue Department received multiple notifications about the strong odor shortly after 3 PM, with reports coming from a broad swath of the region.