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Odd Steinar and his neighbors climbed into the collapsed houses. He yelled at his partner and daughter and thought he heard an answer. But both Ann-Mari and Victoria are still missing.
Shortly after four o’clock at night on 12.30.2020, Odd Steinar wakes up when his partner gives him a shake and yells that the house is collapsing. The daughter had been feeling a bit ill, so the mother and daughter slept in another room that night.
Odd Steinar first thought it was a fire and ran to the front door one floor below. When he descended the stairs, the house collapsed on him.
– So Ann-Mari and Victoria were right in front of me, says Odd Steinar.
Here you can read the latest about the landslide at Ask in Gjerdrum in Norway.
Pulled through a small opening
You are not sure if your partner and daughter left the house before the accident. He himself lay in a hole through which the opening in the front door was too small to pass. But around him he roared and there was a small opening through which he could get out.
Outside, everything was chaotic. It was completely silent and dark, Steinar says.
He is not sure what happened and wonders if it was an earthquake. His house was wrecked and the edge where the ground collapsed was too steep for him to get up.
– The neighbors were in their underwear. I asked him what had happened and he said he didn’t know. I didn’t see anything because it was completely dark, but after a quarter of an hour I realized that the houses around it had also disappeared, says Odd Steinar.
I sat on the roof
He saw blue lights flashing, but they were too far from where he was. They were left sitting on the roof of the demolished house and Odd Steinar believes it took between 1.5 and 2 hours before a helicopter rescued him.
While sitting in the house, he yelled at his partner and daughter, and thinks he heard them respond. But today he’s not sure he heard them screaming amid all the chaos, because neither the partner nor the daughter have been found after the early Wednesday morning landslide.
Destruction after the landslide.
Houses collapsed due to landslides in Norway.
Image: AFP
– I’ve become more insecure. When I was rescued by the helicopter and taken to the hospital, I was sure I would find them in the morning. But it hasn’t happened, and thus I’ve become more unsure whether I actually got an answer when I called, says Odd Steinar.
I have not lost hope
It is very difficult for him to wait for an answer without knowing anything.
– I know the chances get worse as time goes by. But I have not lost hope and so have the police. That you shouldn’t lose hope because it’s amazing how long a person can survive, says Odd Steinar.
Now he may have to be discharged from the hospital and go to his mother to be with her. You are prepared for the next few days to be difficult.
Around him, friends and family have lined up and been of great help in the crisis that suddenly emerged the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
One of the people he has contact with is Anita, who is his partner’s sister.
– It feels like I’m in hell and I can’t get out of it. Everything is so uncertain. I can’t close my eyes because everything is a mess, says Anita.
She has not lost hope. That the rescue team found a dog alive last night makes you think that hope is still alive.
– When the police say they are looking for survivors, it is our hope, says Anita.
Regarding Odd Steinar and family, we do not publish his last name in the article.
The article is a translation of the NRK article, Odd Steinar sat in the ruins of the house and called the partner and his daughter.
The article is translated into Swedish by Annica Lindström.
