Tourists Tried Creating Motor-Powered Floating Sauna with a Loose Ice Floe. It Quickly Went Downhill
Sometimes inventions can lead to disasters. It was evident in an incident that unfolded on the Stockholm archipelago. Five German tourists tried to create their very own motor-powered floating sauna at the site. The ambitious pursuit soon turned dangerous when a swell from a passing passenger ferry destroyed the ice floe supporting the tourists, according to The Guardian. The group soon lost control of their DIY vessel and got stranded near Värmdö, an island near Stockholm. The attacking ferry rescued the group. On February 22, 2026, the crew managed to take four people to safety. They came back for the fifth one, who remained at the site to pack up the group’s equipment.
The group was traveling on the waters in their DIY vessel. This DIY vessel was composed of an ice sheet that was cut out and combined with an outboard motor, a makeshift sauna, a GoPro camera, and a stand-up paddleboard. All the rescued individuals were sent to Stavsnäs, a neighboring harbor village. “We believe they had sawn loose an ice floe and gone out on it," Karolina Wichman, a spokesperson for Stockholm transport administration, shared.
“It was calm weather on Sunday; there was no wind. All vessels that pass through this area drive very calmly and still. But ice is affected by boats in the area.” As the crew prepared to rescue the five individuals, the ferry passengers had a full view of the struggling tourists. As per their testimony, the five German tourists were stuck on the broken piece of ice in sub-zero temperatures. They were surrounded by water on all sides. To date, no statements have arrived from them.
Wichman was surprised by the incident. Mostly ice skaters fall through the ice in Stockholm and even wider Sweden. Such a DIY vessel saga has gone down for the first time in the area. “This was quite a spectacular sight,” Wichman shared. Johan Axberg, a ferry passenger who witnessed the whole thing, believes that the group was unaware of the vessel’s intricacies. “The boat drove carefully through the ice, but it was broken up by the waves, and the ice floe drifted away. So they went out and started picking them from the ice floe, because the ice floe was breaking up more and more,” Axberg added.
Apart from DIY vessels, ferries also sometimes fall into hard times in these waters. Amorella, passenger from the ferry, carrying around a thousand people, was trapped for hours in heavy pack ice at the Baltic Sea of Sweden's east coast, back in 2018, according to Gulf News. The ferry got stuck in this situation due to gale-force winds creating large ice masses along the Swedish coastline that year. Icebreakers were used to free the ferry from the edge of an archipelago north of Stockholm. There were 753 passengers and 190 crew members on board. No one got injured.
Dozens of ships and boats also faced issues during their journey due to gale-force winds in the Swedish waters. Back then marine administration claimed that the ships that fell into hard times ignored their warning regarding icy conditions at the site. Hence, it is important that whenever a vessel (DIY or functional) traverses the Stockholm waters, they pay heed to the authorities.
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