Finnish conscripts injured in attempt to avoid reindeer

HELSINKI – Finland’s defence department says 12 military conscripts ended up in the hospital after an armoured personnel carrier tried to avert a reindeer and was hit by a second vehicle.

The Finnish Defence Forces said five of the injured recruits remained under observation on Wednesday. The rest have returned to training after Tuesday’s crash in Finland’s Lapland region.

Reindeer wander the vast, deserted region in northern Finland. It’s not unusual for herders there to tend to as many as 200,000.

Thousands of the roaming caribou are hit by vehicles and die on Lapland’s roads. Herders paint antlers in fluorescent colours, hang reflectors around the necks of reindeer, and use movable traffic signs to try to keep their herds from getting killed.