Emergency services were called to an area of frozen lake between Norra Björnö and Östra Holmen in response to a call about a woman who had fallen through the ice. When they arrived they found two more people who had suffered a similar fate but had managed to climb back out of the chilly waters.

“The sea rescue service went out with two hovercraft to pull the woman onto to land, but came back with three people. They had gone through the ice at another spot, but had managed to climb out themselves and walk over the ice to the other party,” said Sten-Erik Pettersson at the service.

Reports are unclear over whether the woman managed to get out by herself.

Earlier on Friday afternoon reports came through of another person who had fallen through the ice near Stora Hammar on Torshamnslandet east of Karlskrona in southern Sweden.

The accident occurred when a dog fell into the water and its owner tried to rescue it. The owner was suffering from the cold but was conscious on the journey to the hospital. The state of the dog is not yet known, but it was taken to a veterinarian.

Furthermore two skaters in their seventies fell through the ice south of Uppsala at around lunchtime, according to local newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning. The pair were able to climb back out of the icy waters by themselves before the emergency services arrived.