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Press flocks to Utøya island massacre site

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Press flocks to Utøya island massacre site

A macabre tour of Utøya Island, where 69 teenagers were maniacally gunned down in July, has been arranged by the decimated Labour Party for the foreign and domestic press corps.

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Over 180 journalists from 44 news outlets will disembark on the island camp. The conifer-covered island became a nightmare confine trampled by gunman Anders Behring Breivik, as he hunted and killed as many defenseless teenage activists and their minders as possible.

Many journalists face demands from their employers to find out all the details.

“How big is the island? How steep was it where the teenagers got themselves down to the water? What types of buildings are on the island? All of this lends insight when you continue to write about this going forward,” broadcaster NRK reported Swedish journalist Björn Lindahl saying.

Until, now the press had largely observed the wishes of Young Labour that Utøya be left unvisited by the press so victims’ families could seek some sort of closure there. Only two tours of the island have been allowed by state security and police still scouring the scene of the mass murder.

The mostly teenage victims had run terrified into every nook of the island in search of shelter from the rampaging Breivik. Some were gunned down at point blank range as they contemplated swimming away in the icy Tyrifjord water. Others survived through being covered by victims who received mortal gunshot wounds before slumping on top of them or into the water.

Utøya is crammed with murder sites: from the boat launch, where Breivik reportedly shot dead two adult minders suspicious of his police surplus and speech, to a large wooden reception house and canteen where he killed all whom he saw, while others leapt from windows.

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