At 7:20 p.m. Saturday, Finnish police received a report from the Border Guard about a funnel-shaped metal object in the southern part of the Kustaanmiekka Strait, in a shipping lane used by passenger vessels. Police and the Coast Guard then cordoned off the area. Police asked the Finnish Navy for assistance in identifying the object, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported.

Fintraffic, the agency responsible for monitoring maritime traffic, told Finnish news agency STT that the restricted sea area was south of Särkkä and Suomenlinna and west of Vallisaari. Ships arriving at and departing from the Katajanokka terminal and the Olympia Terminal in Helsinki's South Harbor are among those that pass through the area.

Finnish police has ongoing operation in Gulf of Finland since 8pm local time, ferry traffic between Estonia and Finland temporarily stopped as the shipping lane is closed by authorities. Place is near Kustaanmiekka just outside Helsinki, no further info given. https://t.co/Mt9mR3X56Z

— Aki H Heikkinen (@akihheikkinen) October 3, 2026

The Finnish Navy, which arrived to identify the object, said its preliminary assessment was that it was a very old mechanical part from a shipwreck. The Helsinki Police Department said in a statement issued at around 2:30 a.m. that the object was not an explosive device.

Authorities lifted the restrictions on the sea area and police left the scene.

The object will be towed to Santahamina for further examination at a later date, Yle reported.

A passenger aboard Viking Line's XPRS told the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat on Saturday evening that the vessel was unable to depart Helsinki for Tallinn on schedule because of the discovery. The ship was due to depart at 8 p.m., but according to Yle, it did not leave the port until 2 a.m. Sunday.

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