One person was killed and three others seriously injured after a car left Highway 4, also known as the Lahti motorway, near Orimattila in southern Finland early on Sunday morning, police confirmed.
The crash occurred at approximately 4.40am in the Päijät-Häme region, about three kilometres north of the Luhtikylä interchange. The car was travelling south towards Helsinki when it veered off the road.
According to the Päijät-Häme Rescue Department, the vehicle was moving at high speed when it entered the central reservation and crossed a gap above an underpass before landing on the opposite side of the motorway.
The car suffered extensive damage and came to rest on its underside between the motorway carriageways, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported.
Four people were inside the vehicle, including the driver and three passengers. Emergency services arrived at the scene and worked to free the occupants from the wreckage. Rescue crews dismantled parts of the damaged car to allow medical teams to reach those trapped inside.
Police confirmed that one of the four occupants died in the crash, while the other three sustained serious injuries. The identities of those involved have not been released in the available reports.
The rescue department told Finnish broadcaster MTV News that road conditions were normal at the time of the accident. Temperatures were slightly below freezing, but the road surface was dry.
The crash caused significant disruption to southbound traffic as emergency crews carried out rescue operations and police investigated the circumstances surrounding the incident. Authorities initially closed the southbound carriageway before reopening one lane at approximately 7am.
Police have not established what caused the vehicle to leave the motorway. It also remains unclear whether speed contributed to the crash, and investigators have not confirmed a cause.
