‘Our Nightmare’

NORWEGIAN police have defended their response to the massacre on Utoya island on Friday, as it emerged it took them more than an hour to reach the scene.

Despite being informed at 5.26pm that a gunman was killing scores of people indiscriminately on the small island, just 40 kilometres from Oslo, police did not reach killer Anders Behring Breivik until 6.27pm.

Police defended the delay, claiming they did not have quick access to a helicopter and that police helicopters are only useful for observation and not for transporting groups of officers.