2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking

The 2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking was a hijacking of an express bus running on the Norway Bussekspress Valdresekspressen (Valdres Express) route, which took place east of Øvre Årdal on 4 November 2013. The driver and both passengers were killed.

2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking
Bus similar to the bus that was hijacked
LocationNear Øvre Årdal, Norway
Date4. November 2013
17.30 (CEST (UTC+1))
Attack type
Bus hijacking, stabbing, triple murder
WeaponsKnife
Deaths3
Injured1 (the suspect)
MotiveUnknown

Events

The bus was travelling on Norway Bussekspress' long-distance Valdresekspressen route between Årdalstangen and Oslo[1] when it was hijacked at about 5.30 pm on Fylkesvei 53 between Øvre Årdal, a village in the municipality of Årdal in Vestland county, and Tyin in the neighbouring municipality of Vang in Innlandet county.[2] The driver and both passengers were killed with a knife. The suspect gave himself up voluntarily; he had self-inflicted knife wounds and was taken to a hospital.[3][4]

Wrongly thinking a tunnel was closed, the police took over an hour to drive to the isolated location;[5][6] the situation was initially reported as a road accident,[4] and before emergency responders arrived, some passersby had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the man to open the door.[7]

The fire brigade and ambulance service arrived on the scene before the police and captured the suspect.[2][3][6][8] Counter-terrorism police had been alerted but were called off after the suspect was taken into custody.[9]

Suspect and victims

Suspect

The suspected hijacker is a man from South Sudan[10] born in 1982 who had applied for asylum in Norway in April 2013. The application was turned down in June on the basis that he had previously applied for asylum in Spain. He was settled in Årdal in August.[11] He hijacked the bus the day before he was to be returned to Spain.[12] However, according to authorities, he had not been informed that he was about to be deported.[11]

According to Frode Forfang, director of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, the man stated in an interview with the police upon arrival in Norway that he had psychiatric problems and cited health problems as grounds for seeking asylum in Norway. The authorities had not considered that his behaviour raised security concerns.[13]

In September 2014, he died from injuries sustained from jumping off a roof in prison.[14]

Victims

Investigation and judicial proceedings

The suspect was held at a psychiatric clinic in Bergen and was scheduled to undergo a preliminary hearing with the Criminal Investigation Service on 14 November,[16] but declined to answer questions at that time.[17] As of April 2014 he has still not made a statement to police, has been held in prison and under observation in a medical facility, and is expected to be tried in autumn 2014.[18][19][20]

Reactions

Following the triple homicide, there were reports of insults to other asylum-seekers living at the centre in Årdal, and the local affiliate of Norway Bussekspress made an agreement with the centre operator that asylum-seekers would not travel on that route for a week, for the drivers' sake.[21][22] Some demanded psychiatric screening of asylum-seekers.[23]

On the afternoon of 16 November 2013, Prime Minister Erna Solberg visited Årdal and laid down flowers and lit candles to commemorate the victims of the triple homicide.[24]

The police were criticised for taking so long to reach the scene;[6][25] there have been calls for a national minimum standard response time and other changes.[26][27] On 16 November the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation published a report by the district police chief, Ronny Iden.[28]

2003 hijacking

An earlier hijacking on the Valdresekspressen took place on 16 February 2003; a 26-year-old Ethiopian man killed the driver, 39-year-old Audun Bøland, and wounded some of the 34 passengers.[4][29][30] He had previously killed an asylum-seeker at an asylum centre in Fagernes.[31]

References
  1. Route 160: Selskapene bak NOR-WAY Bussekspress AS Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Lars Barth-Heyerdahl, "Tre drept i busskapring", TV2, 4 November 2013, updated 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  3. Oda Leraan Skjetne, "Politiet måtte kjøre 89 kilometer for å komme fram til bussen", Dagbladet, 4 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  4. Hannah Strange, "Three killed in Norway bus hijacking", The Telegraph, 4 November 2013.
  5. Kristian Ervik, Anders Grimsrud Eriksen and Haakon Eliassen, "Tunnelen var åpen - men politiet kjørte lang omvei" Archived 2013-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, TV2, 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  6. Astrid Øvre Helland, "Krever rapport om aksjon mot Valdresekspressen", Bergens Tidende, 14 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  7. Jonas F. Christoffersen, "Olga og Roald ble jaget av knivdesperadoen på Valdresekspressen", TV2, 6 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  8. Fridgeir Walderhaug and Tuva Bønke Grønning, "- Vi forstår at folk setter spørsmålstegn med en responstid på en time og elleve minutter", Dagbladet, 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  9. Jonas Bergman, Bloomberg News, "Three People Killed in Norway Bus Hijacking, Media Report", San Francisco Chronicle, 4 November 2013.
  10. South Sudan's ambassador to Norway raised a question about the man's statement of nationality: NTB, "Tror ikke trippeldrapssiktet er fra Sør-Sudan", Bergens Tidende, 6 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  11. Asle Hansen and Jørgen M. Gilbrant, "'Tilfeldig' at asylsøkeren drepte tre kvelden før tvangsutsendelse", Dagbladet, 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  12. Arnhild Aass Kristiansen, Fridgeir Walderhaug and Tuva Bønke Grønning, "Arve Kvernhaug (55) og Margaret Molland Sanden (19) ble drept i busstragedien", Dagbladet, 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  13. Frode Forfang, "Asylsøkere og psykisk helse", official blog, Utlendingsdirektoret, 12 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  14. Oddleif Løset and Geir Bjarte Hjetland "Trippeldrapstiltalt død av skadane etter at han hoppa utfor eit tak i fengselet" NRK, 11 September 2014 (in Norwegian)
  15. Mathias Vedeler, "Politiet frigir navnene på de drepte", Aftenposten, 5 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  16. NTB, "Siktet for bussdrapene på Valdresekspressen avhøres torsdag", Aftenbladet, 13 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  17. Nynorsk Pressekontor, "Bussdrapssikta ville ikkje forklare seg" Archived 2013-11-15 at Archive.today, Hordaland, 14 November 2013 (in Nynorsk)
  18. Christian Nicholaisen, "Drapssiktet asylsøker fengslet i fire uker", Bergens Tidende, 7 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  19. Nynorsk Pressekontor, "Trippeldrapssikta ute av observasjon" Archived 2014-05-02 at the Wayback Machine, Møre, 7 April 2014 (in Nynorsk)
  20. Gerhard Flaaten, "Sørsudaneren sendes til Bergen", Bergens Tidende, 7 April 2014 (in Norwegian)
  21. Tove Andersson, "Reprisals and recriminations following Norway bus hijacking tragedy", The Foreigner, 8 November 2013.
  22. Gerhard Flaaten, "Ville ikke la asylsøkere ta buss", Bergens Tidende, 7 November 2013, updated 8 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  23. "Lettvint om psykisk syke asylsøkere", Editorial, Aftenposten, 8 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  24. Brit Jorunn Svanes and Sindre Sunde Tveit, "Statsministeren på besøk i Årdal - la ned blomar og tende lys", NRK, 16 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  25. Ida Falch-Olsen, "'Daglige meldinger på at politiet er sist på et åsted'", TV2, 6 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  26. Tore Letvik and Sofie Prestegård, "Frykter at tregt politi skal koste liv" Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Dagsavisen, 7 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  27. A 13 November 2013 Verdens Gang editorial said: "The discussion about how Norwegian police use their resources and how fast they respond, has resurfaced after the triple murder on the bus last week ... While the weekly working hours [of the individual police officer] in Norway is almost 33 hours, it is somewhat more than 38 hours in Finland".
  28. Simon Solheim and Farid Ighoubah, "Innringer på nødtelefon: 'Terrorhandling. Flere drepte'", NRK, 16 November 2013 (in Norwegian); pdf of report (in Norwegian)
  29. Jørgen M. Gilbrant and Oda Leraan Skjetne, "- Jeg tenker på dem som har mistet sine. Jeg vet hva de kommer til å gå gjennom", Dagbladet, 4 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
  30. Brit Jorunn Svanes and Tone Lin Støfring Skovro, "Andre kapring på ti år på Valdresekspressen - to bussjåførar har mista livet", NRK, 4 November 2013 (in Nynorsk)
  31. Hanne Louise Åkernes and Nina Selbo Torset, "Valdresekspressen ble kapret i 2003", Aftenposten, 4 November 2013 (in Norwegian)
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