AFP/Oslo


Flowers in front of Utoeya island yesterday
While a gunman stalked the idyllic Utoeya island, calmly shooting dead dozens of teenagers, ordinary Norwegians sailed repeatedly towards the danger to pluck survivors from the water.
Line, a slender and youthful 48-year-old with wavy blonde hair, has lived by the lakeside for over 20 years, barely 600m from where Friday’s massacre of children attending a Labour Party summer camp took place.
She and her neighbours could not stand by as what they initially thought were fireworks echoing down the pine-forested valley turned out to be gunshots peppering children’s screams.
“I saw three heads in the water, swimming, but then there was only one, only one got on my boat,” a still shaken Line said, declining to give her last name.
“They were screaming and crying, some had lots of blood, some said they saw friends get shot in the water. They all very much wanted to use my mobile to try to call their friends.”
At least 85 people were killed on the island that night, many shot dead in the water as they tried to escape. Police are still searching for bodies.
Line says she made seven trips in her small motorboat despite warnings from police not to approach. She says they got much closer than police, who were already on the scene.
She brought six people to shore at a time, and then put them in her car to take them to the care of emergency services. A friend who stood nearby and declined to give her name said Line rescued more than 40 people.
“It was not just me but many people here with boats,” says Line.
“There were maybe 20 boats, we got close and went round the island, we got much closer than the police or medical services.” “One boat was shot at, but not mine,” she says.
“There was a police boat and they said not to get too close but we went around the island,” said Line, shrugging as if to add “What else could we do?”
Days after the massacre, which was preceded by a deadly bombing of government offices in Oslo, residents and holidaymakers have put candles and flowers at the end of the stone jetty that served as their citizen rescuers’ launch pad.
The Norwegian media have criticised police for what they say was their slow reaction in reaching the island and arresting the gunman.
A spokesman said that police actions would be probed, but not immediately.
“I do not have any information about that,” police spokesman Henning Holtaas said when asked if police had hung back as civilians rescued threatened children.
“I’m sure that police action will be analysed. For the time being our focus is to save lives and and conduct the ongoing operation so we haven’t had time to see if police actions were right or wrong or could have been better,” he said.