Charles University in Prague, where the mass shooting happened on Thursday, also has a department of Finnish language and literature.
At Charles University in Prague, which became the scene of the mass shooting, Finnish literature was studied at the time of the shooting.
Yrjö Lauranto works at Kaarle University as a lecturer of Finnish language and culture. Three other Czech teachers also work at the department. There are about 40 students in total.
The Finnish language department is located in a large humanities building, where a large number of people from different fields study and work. A mass shooting took place in the same building on Thursday that claimed the lives of at least 15 people.
Among the dead is also the suspected shooter, a 24-year-old university student. There are at least 24 wounded, and many of them are seriously wounded.
Lauranto was not there when the shooting took place, as he works remotely on Thursdays at his home a couple of kilometers away.
– Even before I got the message telling me to stay indoors, I heard the sounds of sirens. Sirens have been ringing in the city all day.
The lecture on contemporary Finnish literature was left unfinished
Lauranto has been in contact with his colleagues and Finnish students all day. Lauranto has been in contact with the students of each year’s course by phone and it seems that they have survived.
– I got a message from my closest colleague that he was able to escape from the building and he also saw the students escaping, Lauranto says.
Another of Lauranto’s coworkers also works remotely on Thursdays, outside of Prague.
A third of Lauranto’s colleagues, an expert in Finnish literature, was at the university when the shooting happened.
– I checked from our system that he had a lecture in progress at that time. As I recall, he taught contemporary Finnish literature there.
The lecture was held on the 4th floor of the Faculty of Humanities building – the same one where the shooting started.
According to Lauranto’s information, the Finnish students were able to escape the shooter. Instead, the teacher’s situation worries Lauranto.
– Nothing has been heard from him.
“This whole world situation is shocking”
Lauranto describes the shooting incident as shocking.
– Of course it’s shocking, this whole world situation is shocking, Lauranto says and mentions the events in Ukraine and Gaza, among other things.
– This is just one part of the evil and horror that we have to suffer in this world.
Finnish language students are not Finnish, and the institution does not have, for example, Finnish exchange students. Lauranto cannot tell about the situation of Finnish students.
Ambassador of Finland to the Czech Republic Pasi Tuominen previously estimated that there are approximately 50 Finns who have filed a travel declaration in Prague. According to Tuominen, the university has also had at least one Finnish student on an internship, but there may be more Finnish students.
According to Tuominen, it is not known that Finns were killed or injured.