Norway survivors return to Utoeya island
Survivors of last month's attack in Norway will return to the island where 69 people were killed for the first time Saturday.
About 600 people survived the July 22 massacre on Utoeya island by Anders Behring Breivik. Most of them were gathered there for a youth camp run by the Labor Party when the incident occurred. About 1,000 including many of the survivors were expected to return to the island Saturday in an attempt to bring some closure to the attack. Health volunteers and counselors will be on call throughout the day.
"I need to cry, I need to feel. I think I am still in denial," survivor Adrian Pracon, 21, told Reuters. "It will be good for me to do this process of trying to proceed with my life and realize that this has happened. It will help remember what actually happened."
(More from GlobalPost: Norway's Christian terrorist leads to soul-searching)
Pracon still has about 60 bullet splinters in his left shoulder after Breivik shot at him, the Telegraph reports.
Lars Weisaeth, a professor of disaster psychiatry at the University of Oslo, told Reuters that returning to the site will help people heal.
"If you have survived a harrowing experience, you do not have a narrative, a continuous story to tell. What you remember is a series of fragmented, extremely strong impressions — visual and acoustic," he said. "(Going back will) link this together so that they can have a very exact picture of the physical circumstances."
The relatives of those killed visited the island Friday to mourn and get more information from the police. An officer will show each family member where his or her loved one was shot, CNN reports.
The island will eventually open to the public again, reports ITN news.
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