2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking

Bus hijacking near Øvre Årdal, Norway 2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking Norway buss.jpg Bus similar to the bus that was hijacked Near Øvre Årdal, Norway 4 November 2013 17.30 CEST (UTC+1) Bus hijacking, mass stabbing, triple murder 3 1 (the suspect) Peter Roy Paul Beakhttps://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/21e8rr/slik-var-beaks-liv-i-norge Knife Unknown The 2013 Valdresekspressen hijacking was a hijacking of an express bus running on the Nor-Way Bussekspress Valdresekspressen (Valdres Express) route, which took place east of Øvre Årdal on 4 November 2013. The driver and both passengers were killed. Events The bus was travelling on Nor-Way Bussekspress' long-distance Valdresekspressen route between Årdalstangen and OsloRoute 160: Selskapene bak NOR-WAY Bussekspress AS https://web.archive.org/web/20131203030156/http://www.nor-way.no/selskapene/category194.html 2013-12-03 when it was hijacked at about 5.30 pm on Fylkesvei 53 between Øvre Årdal, a village in Årdal Municipality in Vestland county, and Tyin in the neighbouring Vang Municipality in Innlandet county.Lars Barth-Heyerdahl, "Tre drept i busskapring" https://web.archive.org/web/20131104233843/http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/tre-drept-i-busskapring-4150517.html 2013-11-04 , TV2, 4 November 2013, updated 5 November 2013 no 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.Oda Leraan Skjetne, "Politiet måtte kjøre 89 kilometer for å komme fram til bussen", Dagbladet, 4 November 2013 noHannah Strange, "Three killed in Norway bus hijacking", The Telegraph, 4 November 2013. Wrongly thinking a tunnel was closed, the police took over an hour to drive to the isolated location;Kristian Ervik, Anders Grimsrud Eriksen and Haakon Eliassen, "Tunnelen var åpen - men politiet kjørte lang omvei" https://web.archive.org/web/20131107141526/http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/krim/tunnelen-var-aapen-men-politiet-kjoerte-lang-omvei-4150769.html 2013-11-07 , TV2, 5 November 2013 noAstrid Øvre Helland, "Krever rapport om aksjon mot Valdresekspressen", Bergens Tidende, 14 November 2013 no the situation was initially reported as a road accident, and before emergency responders arrived, some passersby had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the man to open the door.Jonas F. Christoffersen, "Olga og Roald ble jaget av knivdesperadoen på Valdresekspressen", TV2, 6 November 2013 no The fire brigade and ambulance service arrived on the scene before the police and captured the suspect.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 no Counter-terrorism police had been alerted but were called off after the suspect was taken into custody.Jonas Bergman, Bloomberg News, "Three People Killed in Norway Bus Hijacking, Media Report", San Francisco Chronicle, 4 November 2013. Suspect and victims Suspect The suspected hijacker was Peter Beak, a man from South SudanSouth 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 no 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.Asle Hansen and Jørgen M. Gilbrant, "'Tilfeldig' at asylsøkeren drepte tre kvelden før tvangsutsendelse", Dagbladet, 5 November 2013 no He hijacked the bus the day before he was to be returned to Spain.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 no However, according to authorities, he had not been informed that he was about to be deported. According to Frode Forfang, director of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, Peter 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.Frode Forfang, "Asylsøkere og psykisk helse", official blog, Utlendingsdirektoret, 12 November 2013 no Victims Margaret Molland Sanden, 19, of Årdalstangen, a student at Oslo University CollegeMathias Vedeler, "Politiet frigir navnene på de drepte", Aftenposten, 5 November 2013 no Brahim Khouya, 53, a Swedish citizen returning home to Gothenburg after working in Årdal Arve Kvernhaug, 55, of Bagn, the bus driver Investigation and judicial proceedings Peter Beak was held at a psychiatric clinic in Bergen and was scheduled to undergo a preliminary hearing with the Criminal Investigation Service on 14 November,NTB, "Siktet for bussdrapene på Valdresekspressen avhøres torsdag", Aftenbladet, 13 November 2013 no but declined to answer questions at that time.Nynorsk Pressekontor, "Bussdrapssikta ville ikkje forklare seg" https://archive.today/20131115054511/http://www.avisa-hordaland.no/npk/article6983023.ece 2013-11-15 , Hordaland, 14 November 2013 nn 2014 04, he had not made a statement to police, had been held in prison and under observation in a medical facility, and was expected to be tried in autumn 2014.Christian Nicholaisen, "Drapssiktet asylsøker fengslet i fire uker", Bergens Tidende, 7 November 2013 noNynorsk Pressekontor, "Trippeldrapssikta ute av observasjon" https://web.archive.org/web/20140502002443/http://www.mre.no/npkdirekte/5300822.o2.html 2014-05-02 , Møre, 7 April 2014 nnGerhard Flaaten, "Sørsudaneren sendes til Bergen", Bergens Tidende, 7 April 2014 no In September 2014, he died from injuries sustained when he jumped off a roof in prison.Oddleif Løset and Geir Bjarte Hjetland, "Trippeldrapstiltalt død av skadane etter at han hoppa utfor eit tak i fengselet", NRK, 11 September 2014 nn. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016 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 Nor-Way Bussekspress made an agreement with the centre operator that asylum-seekers would not travel on that route for a week, for the drivers' sake.Tove Andersson, "Reprisals and recriminations following Norway bus hijacking tragedy", The Foreigner, 8 November 2013.Gerhard Flaaten, "Ville ikke la asylsøkere ta buss", Bergens Tidende, 7 November 2013, updated 8 November 2013 no Some demanded psychiatric screening of asylum-seekers."Lettvint om psykisk syke asylsøkere", Editorial, Aftenposten, 8 November 2013 no 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.Brit Jorunn Svanes and Sindre Sunde Tveit, "Statsministeren på besøk i Årdal - la ned blomar og tende lys", NRK, 16 November 2013 no The police were criticised for taking so long to reach the scene;Ida Falch-Olsen, "'Daglige meldinger på at politiet er sist på et åsted'", TV2, 6 November 2013 no there have been calls for a national minimum standard response time and other changes.Tore Letvik and Sofie Prestegård, "Frykter at tregt politi skal koste liv", Dagsavisen, 7 November 2013 no. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013A 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". On 16 November the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation published a report by the district police chief, Ronny Iden.Simon Solheim and Farid Ighoubah, "Innringer på nødtelefon: 'Terrorhandling. Flere drepte'", NRK, 16 November 2013 no; pdf of report no 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.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 noBrit Jorunn Svanes and Tone Lin Støfring Skovro, "Andre kapring på ti år på Valdresekspressen - to bussjåførar har mista livet", NRK, 4 November 2013 nn He had previously killed an asylum-seeker at an asylum centre in Fagernes.Hanne Louise Åkernes and Nina Selbo Torset, "Valdresekspressen ble kapret i 2003", Aftenposten, 4 November 2013 no References 30em Category:2013 murders in Norway Category:Årdal Municipality Category:Hijackings in Europe Category:Bus incidents in Norway Category:Refugees in Norway Category:Knife attacks in Europe Category:Mass stabbings in Europe Category:Stabbing attacks in 2013 Category:November 2013 crimes in Europe Category:Hijackings in the 2010s Category:Stabbing attacks in Norway Category:2013 mass murders Category:21st-century mass murders in Norway Category:Attacks on bus transport Category:2013 road incidents in Europe