Three Norwegian Statoil employees who survived the terror attack in In Amenas, Algeria in January, has told about how a series of coincidences saved their lives during the attack.
During a two-hour long interview with NRK, Kolbjørn Kirkebø (51), Bjarne Våge (58) and Thure Ingebrigtsen (57) talk about several coincidences and crucial choices that came into play when terrorists attacked the gas plant in Las Amenas, where several Norwegian employees worked for Statoil.
The survivors agree that although security precautions at the gas plant were extensive, security failed when it allowed the attackers to come right up to the plant without being detected.
Våge was sitting in his room, drinking coffee, when the terrorists stormed in. "You are hostages," the terrorists announced, and pointed their guns at them.
Våge decided that he had to find a way to escape. While they were walking close to one of the gas plants, he saw an opportunity and started to run. One of the terrorists followed him and threatened to shoot him, but didn't. Våge thinks he may have been worried that he would hit a gas pipe.
In retrospect, Våge thinks about that one of the reasons he managed to escape was simply because the straps the terrorists had used to tie his hands together were strapped together the wrong way, and he was able to get them off. "I think about how that happened to me, but not to the other ones," Våge explains.
Ingebritsen and Kirkebø also told their stories of how they managed to survive, and the details and circumstances that made it possible. They were lucky.
Unfortunately, five other Statoil employees were not, and on January 25, Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide concluded that there was no hope of finding any more survivors after the attacks.
(NRK)
Julie Ryland
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