Norway survivor: "I lay on the beach surrounded by bodies, playing dead"

Lifeless bodies on Utoya island's shore after the July 22 shooting. Screenshot from this video posted on YouTube.

On July 22, Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian right-wing extremist, planted two bombs near an Oslo government building and went on a brutal shooting spree in a Labour Party youth camp on the nearby island of Utoeya. On that fateful Friday, Adrian Pracon, 21, was volunteering at the camp. Little did he know when he heard about the Oslo bombings that his life was about to change forever.

For over an hour, he and his friends went through the kind of scene you only expect in Hollywood horror movies. Shot in the shoulder by Breivik and left for dead, he is one of the few young men and women gathered on the island who survived to tell his story. Here is his account.

"I tried swim to another island, but nearly drowned because of the weight of my clothes"

Adrian Pracon was present on Utoeya island when Breivik launched his attack. He spoke to FRANCE 24 from his hospital bed on Monday, July 25.

On the island, we had just heard about the bombings that targeted the government building in Oslo, and we were all very shocked. Many of us knew people who worked in the area, and were very concerned. We heard that policemen had been dispatched to the island to inform us of the situation and instruct us on security procedures.

I was at grocery store a little higher up on the coast to get some food when I first heard gunshots. I found out later that a man disguised as a police officer had called on all the people in the camp to gather around him, claiming that he wanted to inform them of the situation. Suddenly, he pulled out his gun and opened fire on the crowd.

From where I was, I could see people running in every direction. I tried to take cover in nearby woods. Looking over my shoulder, I could see the killer shooting everyone he came across. He was looking for people who were hiding in the camp’s tents, and shooting them one by one. Once he decided he was finished, I guess, he began heading towards the woods where I was hiding. That’s when I ran to the beach and dove into the icy water, with all my clothes on.

"I begged him not to shoot. Then, inexplicably, he lowered his weapon and walked away. "

I tried to swim to another island, which was 800 meters away, but nearly drowned because of the weight of my clothes. So I decided to return to the beach. I could see bullets zipping through the water’s surface. Sometimes he’d hit someone, and the water would turn blood-red. At that point, I saw him on the beach, just 15 meters away from me. He looked at me and raised his weapon. I begged him not to shoot. Then, inexplicably, he lowered his weapon and walked away. What I felt at that moment was very strange. He had spared me.

I was frozen stiff and in a state of shock when I reached the beach. There, a group of survivors gathered around me. There were about 25 of us. Then the killer came back and started shooting again. Of all the people on the beach, only three survived. We were lying on the rocks, surrounded  by bodies, playing dead. He came right next to us, kicking the bodies he came across to see if they were alive. I could hear the sound of his boots right next to me, I could hear his heavy breathing. Then he loaded his gun, shot me in the shoulder, and left. I hardly felt a thing at the time. Once again I was lucky, I’m sure he was aiming for my head.

Police and ambulance teams finally arrived. A girl lying next to me had been shot in the leg. We were brought back to the mainland by boat, with emergency teams trying to quell the flow of blood from our wounds. I was brought to the hospital, and have been here since. The physical pain is nothing compared with the psychological pain. I’m about to meet with the other survivors present in the hospital. I haven’t seen them since the massacre.”

Post written with FRANCE 24 journalist Ségolène Malterre.