Norway shooting: German tourist hailed a hero after saving 30 lives
A German tourist has been hailed a hero after sailing straight into the line of gunfire to save up to 30 lives during Norway's brutal massacre.
Marcel Gleffe raced to his boat and took to the water immediately after hearing the shots Photo: EPA
Marcel Gleffe was the first to race to the idyllic island of Utoeya, where more than 500 young people were attending a summer camp organised by AUF, the youth wing of the ruling Labour Party, as gunman Anders Behring Breivik opened fire.
Mr Gleffe, who was staying on a holiday campsite on the mainland, raced to his boat and took to the water immediately after hearing the shots and seeing plumes of smoke on the horizon.
As the names of some of the young victims began to emerge, he told how he had bravely rescued scores of teenagers who fled for their lives as Breivik's bullets rained down.
"I just did it on instinct," he said. "You don't get scared in a situation like that, you just do what it takes. I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire. I knew what it was about, and that it wasn't just nonsense.
"Cooperation with the police and rescue crews afterwards was very good, but it all came too late. The first time I was out I was all alone."
Mr Gleffe and his family were drinking coffee outside their caravan and discussing the Oslo bombing when they began to hear shots from Utoeya between 5pm and 6pm on Friday.
"I recognised the sound of the automatic weapon straight away," he said.
"Then I saw two youths who swam away from the island. Then smoke grenades came and several bursts from the automatic weapon. I saw through the binoculars that there were more people in the water."
Mr Gleffe, who lives in Ski, south of Oslo, took the keys to his boat and raced down to the water.
He threw life jackets out to the young people as they shouted: "Are you police, are you police?". Some told him that the gunman was a police officer as others yelled "terrorist, terrorist, terrorist!".
He plucked as many as he could from the water, steering the boat close to the shore of the island and using his binoculars to search for the gunman.
"I took between four and five trips. After that the police asked me to stop," he told the local Dagbladet newspaper.
"The youths were good. They supported each other and were organised, and said who needed first aid and who had to be taken into the boat first. 'You must take him, you must take him', they said."
"They were happy to get help, but they were unsure whom they could trust."
Among those who lost their lives during Breivik's rampage was Tore Eikeland, 21, president of the Hordaland branch of the AUF, whom Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg described as "one of our most talented youth politicians".
"Now he is dead. Gone forever. It is incomprehensible," he told mourners at a special memorial service at Oslo's cathedral.
Erik Dale, a friend and colleague in Norwegian youth politics wrote online: "It is much too soon for you to go, Tore. A great friend with a great heart. A heart that beats for everyone.
"And a political talent we all envy you. Norway's next Prime Minister, remember? It is too soon to lose you. We miss you."
Mr Dale also wrote about another friend, Tarald Mjelde, 18, who was missing presumed dead last night.
"We still need you, Tarald.," he said. "The little big boy with an enthusiasm that infects everyone around you. All the people who wish they had your energy. Your eagerness. If you hadn't been such a great little politician, I am sure you could have been an athlete.
"You love your football, even if you support the wrong team. How did you end up with Chelsea anyways? Please come home safe so you can tell me. We need you."
As the death toll from the island climbed to 86, the names of the missing began to filter out. AMong them was Simon Saeboe, 19, who posed with the Prime Minister in 2009.
Hanne Kristine Fridtun, 20, was last heard from at 6pm on Friday as she swam out into the water with several others.
"We are twenty people hiding at the water's edge. We are talking quietly so we are not heard," she told NRK, the state broadcaster on the phone.
Torjus Blattmann, 17, Syvert Knudsen, 17, Marianne Sandvik, 16 and Jamil Rafal Yasin, 20, were also all still missing.
Friends posted heartfelt messages on Facebook and more than one million joined a tribute page illustrated by a single candle.
One wrote on Simon Saeboe's page: "This is so unfair and unreal you will always be remembered and never be forgotten" while another added: "I am so glad I had a chance to know you."
Monday, 25 July 2011
Norway shooting: German tourist hailed a hero after saving 30 lives - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
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