Eesti in brief - 2004-09-02

  • 2004-09-02
The labor market currently lacks chimney sweepers as the country's youth are not interested in taking up the trade and because the profession is not taught in vocational schools, the Aripaev daily reported this week.

The demand for chimney sweepers grows seasonally, especially in autumn, when customers have to wait for about a week to get their chimneys swept.

Education Minister Toivo Mamets has been accused of stonewalling with the creation of Tallinn University, though the minister responded by saying that any such institution needs to be studied by many commissions before being chartered.

About 80 tons of grain was destroyed as the result of a major fire in Parnu county. One rescue worker was injured during a gas container explosion in the storage facility.

Police detained a record number of 50 young men and women under the influence of drugs at the annual Freedom Parade, a massive rave festival held on the streets of Tartu last weekend. The police also confiscated 200 ecstasy pills and arrested five people for illegal drug possession or distribution.

The remains of 28 Soviet sailors who died in a military submarine accident near Paldiski in 1956 were reburied on Aug. 28. The former graves of the submarine crew hampered the expansion of Paldiski's southern port.

All families with children entering primary school this year will receive free smoke detectors thanks to a joint initiative by the rescue department, private businesses and municipalities. In addition to over 13,000 smoke detectors, children will receive fire safety books. The rescue department said only 5 percent of households have smoke detectors.

Chechens living in the Baltics and Finland ignored the presidential elections in the Chechen Republic. They continue to acknowledge former President Aslan Maskhadov, calling the Aug. 29 elections a farce.

The Health Protection Inspectorate closed the Mandarin restaurants in Tartu and Parnu over unsatisfactory sanitary conditions. The Asian fast food restaurants were checked after several people who ate there turned to doctors with salmonellosis symptoms. The chain's restaurant in Tallinn received minor criticism but managed to keep its license.

A 60-year-old amateur fisherman drowned on Aug. 29 as his boat overturned in the sea in Harju county. It was already the third accident involving the Pella-type boat (photo) that was recently declared unsuitable for water areas with a wave height over 0.3 meters. Earlier this August two out of three men drowned during a fishing trip on Lake Peipus as their Pella-type boat turned over. In July, five young people drowned in the sea in the same county during a leisure trip on the Pella type boat.