Norway survivor remembers 'spitting teeth'

2012-04-26 13:03

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik stands in the courtroom in Oslo, Norway. (Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix/ AP)

Oslo - Survivors of the bomb that claimed eight lives and injured over 200 in the Norwegian capital Oslo last year on Thursday testified at the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, where one recalled spitting teeth after the blast.

Breivik is charged with detonating the bomb, which targeted government offices, and later shooting dead 69 people at a Labour Party summer camp on an island near the capital.

During the proceedings earlier this week, an explosive expert and police officers described the effects of the 950kg bomb built by Breivik, made from artificial fertiliser, diesel and aluminium.

Harald Fosker, the first witness to testify on Thursday, told the court that he had gone to his office to get some documents on the afternoon of 22 July as he was due to travel to France for a meeting.

While he was talking to his boss on the phone, the bomb went off.

"I remember a huge explosion and that I was hit in the face. It felt like being hit by a shovel," Fosker told the Oslo District Court.

Fosker said he realised immediately that it was a terrorist attack. "I didn't want to move in case the blast had damaged the floor. I lay there and spat teeth while I called for help," he added.

The 67-year-old sustained extensive wounds and injuries to the face, head and teeth, including a fractured jaw, and multiple eye injuries that have resulted in substantially impaired vision, the indictment said.

A few minutes into Fosker's testimony the court briefly adjourned due to a problem with the closed-circuit television broadcast of the proceedings to 17 other court houses around Norway.

- SAPA