Sweden holds first overnight air-raid shelter drill

Sweden held its first overnight air-raid shelter exercise this week, with 37 volunteers spending Thursday night in a concrete bunker in the western municipality of Grums.

The exercise comes as Sweden has been increasing battle readiness since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The municipality organised the drill to observe how people behave underground and how conditions change in an enclosed shelter.

Project manager Therese Rosenblad said organisers wanted to know how people react with about 40 people inside, and to measure the temperature and CO2 level. She said the war in Ukraine had increased Sweden's awareness and willingness to prepare.

The volunteers included a firefighter, a pensioner, a secretary, a carpenter, a new mother and a man in a wheelchair. Organisers said Grums chose varied profiles to test difficulties that could arise in a real crisis.

Inside the nearly 60-year-old shelter, volunteers took turns turning a hand crank to pump oxygen into the space. One participant fainted, and a trash can served as an improvised toilet. The lights were cut at 10 p.m.

Participants' feedback will feed into a study to be passed to the defence ministry.