Thursday, July 28, 2011

How Prableen Survived the Utoeya Killings

There  were  two  teenagers  of  Indian  origin on Utoeya  Island  where  the  terrible   carnage  took  place. Both  of  them  miraculously  survived  the  attack'

A  weaver  from  Varanasi  revealed that  in 2008 ,  Anders  (the  shooter)  had  ordered  badges from  his  workshop. The  badges  were  meant  for  his  uniform. The  weaver   and  his   family  are  shocked  and  stunned  to  hear about  the  evil  acts  of  Anders. It  was  the  last  job  they  did, not  they  are  into  power  looms.

These stories  appeared  in the  Hindustan Times  newspaper.

Grief,  tragedy,  loss, even  violence  unites   people  of   distant  lands  together. One  or  two  Swedish  nations  were  killed in  a  train  accident  a few  weeks  ago in our state.

The  people  of  Norway  have   diplayed immeasurable  courage  and   fortitude while  dealing   with  a  catastrophe  of  such  magnitude. Someone  said  in Norway  one  doesn 't   see  heavy  policing. The  citizens  are  so  law  abiding  and   peaceful.

But  there  is  hope   for   all  of   us.  Hope,  if  we  turn  towards  our  Creator. And  look towards Him  for   comfort,  strength  and  protection. I live  in  an  unstable  society.  I  need  it  24/7. Read  about   the  lives  of  minorities (  like  Christians) and  others  in this  article  A NEW  LAW   FOR  AN  OLD  PROBLEM

And  this  is  Prableen 's  story

When the gun fell silent on Norway's Utoeya island, Prableen Kaur, an 18-year-old, found herself lying on top of a dead body in the woods, with two more bodies piled on top of her. She had lay like that for an hour. Minutes earlier, as she played dead, trying not to breath, her mobile phone had rung. The killer, right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik, lurked nearby, stalking his innocent young victims, 93 of whom died.

Now Prableen’s blog about Friday’s massacre has become an Internet sensation. “I had a guardian angel,” writes Prableen, vice chairperson of the Oslo division the Norwegian Labour Party’s youth wing. Hundreds have posted messages comforting her.

On Sunday, Prableen and her family — father Malkeet Singh, a cab driver from Patiala, mother, brother and sister — offered prayers at the local Gurdwara in Oslo. The teenager is at home now, recovering from the nightmare, her father told HT.

In a country that is home to some 5,000 Sikhs, a second Indian-origin teenager, Pratap Singh, 15, also survived the massacre.

When a bomb exploded at the Labour party office in Oslo, killing seven people, Prableen wrote in her blog, “We comforted one another that we were safe on an island. No-one knew that hell would break out among us as well.”

Then shots ran out in Utoeya. “I saw him shoot. Everyone began to run. The first thought was, ‘Why is the police shooting at us? What the hell?!’”

The teenagers ran into a room as Breivik continued to shoot and jumped out of a window. She spotted her best friend through the window but couldn’t get to him. She “saw the fear in his eyes.”

They ran into the woods, stopping only to help the injured as they made their way down to the lake Tyrifjorden that surrounds the island, 40 km from Oslo. Crouching behind a brick wall along with others, she prayed, cried and called her family and friends from her mobile phone.

“A man came. ‘I am from the police’.” Someone shouted back that he had to prove it, and the killer started to shoot. “He reloaded. Shot more. He shot those around me. I remained lying. I thought: ‘Now it is over. He is here.”
Prableen lay there for an hour, buried under dead bodies.

Then she ran for the lake and, tearing off her jumper, began to swim, heading for a rubber boat several children were clinging on to.
She became so tired she turned on her back, using only her feet to paddle.

Rescued by police, the children were taken to a hotel, where she was reunited with her best friend.
“I don’t manage to sleep any more,” Prableen writes.

Please  visit  my  Norwegian  friend FELISOL 'S  BLOG
to read  a  personal  account  of   this  tragedy

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