Several police cars, ambulances and emergency services were on site outside Helsinki City Theater at lunchtime on Monday. One person has been taken to hospital following an explosion that occurred shortly after 11 am Swedish time.

- Suddenly there was an explosion during normal maintenance work. It has hurt a person who is now in hospital, says Antti Rehtijärvi, the city theater's technical manager for Finnish Yle.

An accident

When the explosion happened, hundreds of people were in the building. The injured person alone should have been doing some maintenance work when the explosion occurred, according to Ilta-Sanomat.

The police call the explosion an accident. But exactly what caused it is still unclear.

- The investigation is ongoing. We have not yet received information on what caused the accident, says on-duty firefighters at the Helsinki Rescue Service to Svenska Yle.

Hufvudstadsbladet writes that the rescue agency announced that the intervention was completed shortly after 13 Finnish time.