A teenager survivor of the shooting massacre in Norway has written a chilling account of how she escaped gunman Anders Behring Breivik.
, an excerpt from which was translated by The Guardian newspaper, Emma Martinovic, 18, described swimming in the water around Utoya island as bullets hit people around her and " the laughter of the bastard as he shot, and his shout to us: 'You won't get away!'"
Martinovic, who was wounded, said she found the body of a friend in the water and said she had helped another friend, who began to struggle to stay afloat, swim to safety.
Breivik, 32, killed eight people in a bomb attack in central Oslo last Friday and then shot 68 at the island summer camp for the ruling Labor Party's youth wing.
He told police he was waging a self-styled "crusade" against Islam and multiculturalism.
In her blog, Martinovic said that she and three others at first hid on a rocky slope until a text message came warning that Breivik was heading toward them.
They decided to move to the water's edge and that was when she found the body of her friend.
"I dragged the boy's body back to land and when I pulled back his jacket hood I saw it was a friend of mine, and I saw the wound to his head. There was no time to react. I kissed him on the cheek and returned to my rockface," she wrote on the blog.
'Starting to panic'
They decided to swim, taking off clothes and getting into the freezing water.
"It was cold, I felt the chill in my bones, but focused on keeping my head above water. Behind me some of the others were starting to panic, so I shouted to them: 'Keep your head above water, get away from land. Breathe!'" Martinovic said.
She then turned back and saw the gunman.
"It looked as if he was aiming at us. Poff! One of the other swimmers was shot, I saw the blood stream out, so I started to swim even faster. Then I turned on my back again and saw he was aiming at those who still hadn't started swimming from land yet," Martinovic wrote.
"I saw one of my friends about to leap into the water, but in a second he was shot. Even at a distance I could see and hear the two shots, straight to the head. I saw his head explode, I saw how he was split apart. Panic spread like wildfire among those on land. I wanted to be among them, urging them to get away, by land or water," she added.
She said she "felt the panic seize me" and began to struggle to swim.
"The panic spread to my breathing, I was gasping for air. Suddenly someone behind me shouts. 'Emma, I can't go on.' It was one of my girlfriends," she said.
Martinovic swam back and the girl climbed onto her shoulders, but carried on swimming with her legs.
"Suddenly she said: 'Emma, you're bleeding', and when I looked down at my left arm, there was blood pouring from it. I tried to shut it out, focus on swimming. ... Behind us we could still hear shooting, the screams, the laughter of the bastard as he shot, and his shout to us: "You won't get away!" she wrote.
'My daddy is dead'
Her friend was later able to swim unaided and a young boy swam up to them.
"I looked at him and said: 'For someone so young you're a strong swimmer.' He looked at me and replied: 'My daddy is dead.' I said to him: 'Don't look back, just keep swimming for your dad. You're doing really great.' To this he answered: 'I thought the police were supposed to be kind to us.'" Martinovic wrote.
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Norway in mourning after massacre
They swam together, but when she turned back to see what was happening Martinovic said she discovered that "there were far fewer in our wake" and "the bastard was still shooting at us."
They saw a boat and she said she swam over alone, fearing "some sort of trick."
"We had lost faith in everyone. I looked up at the man who lifted me into his boat. 'You're safe now,' he said. He gave me a good hug and asked if there were others. We motored out to my friend and the boy and I said: 'Come on, it's safe,'" she added.
She said she would not give up politics because of the attack and even said she would like to meet Breivik.
"I have so many questions. ... Why? What was he thinking? All these questions which will never be answered," Martinovic wrote.
'Looked the killer straight in the eyes'
Another survivor, Andrine Johansen, 16, was quoted as saying she had "looked the killer straight in the eyes as he pointed his gun straight towards me and shot three times," according to a report in the Mirror newspaper.
Johansen, who spoke from her hospital bed, was hit in the chest; another bullet went through her hooded top and the third passed through her shoe without hitting her foot, the Mirror said. Like others, she survived by playing dead.
More details have begun to emerge about Brevik, 32.
Lina Engelsrud, 31, who knew him when they were children, told the The Times newspaper in Britain, which operates behind a paywall, that Breivik was "troublesome."
She said Breivik appeared to be cold and never had any girlfriends.
Engelsrud noted he had liked killing ants, had urinated in a neighbor's shed and used to spit in the basement, The Times reported.