Families visit scene of Norway massacre

OSLO, Norway, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Family members of the victims of last month's massacre in Norway visited the island of Utoya for the first time Friday, coming to terms with the help of clergy.

Police, clergy and counselors escorted the kin of the slain to the island as accused mass murderer Anders Breivik complained his solitary confinement is "sadistic torture," The New York Times reported.

Five hundred relatives, with candles and flowers in tow, wandered the island in a light rain, absorbing their losses.

"We get to see the place where Andrine was last, the houses she was in, the paths she walked and the place she died," Unni Espeland Marcussen, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed, told Norwegian radio.

Meanwhile, terms of Breivik's detention came under court scrutiny in Oslo Friday.

Police asked that the hearing Friday be closed to prevent Breivik from communicating with potential accomplices even though investigators said they believe he acted alone July 22 in a bombing-shooting attack on Norway's capital and Utoya in which 77 people died, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Police said they want to extend the terms of his detention allowing them to keep Breivik in isolation. The four-week term of his confinement expires Monday.

Breivik confessed to detonating a bomb in downtown Oslo, killing eight people, and to the shooting spree on Utoya, gunning down 69 people attending a party youth summer camp. A trial has yet to be scheduled.

Emilie Bersaas, 19, who escaped uninjured, told Sky News her memories of what happened remain vivid.

"I have my feelings and sometimes it gets tough [to deal with my] feelings," she said.

She said she isn't seeking revenge for the people Breivik killed, but wants justice.

"I am not spending time thinking about him," Bersaas said. "OK, mostly I don't want to because I don't think he deserves my thoughts."

Police Thursday released transcripts of two telephone calls Breivik made to police while he was shooting on Utoya Island.

In the first call transcript, the killer said he was a "commander" from the "Norwegian anti-communist resistance movement" and expressed his wish to "surrender" before the conversation is interrupted.

In the second one, Breivik told officials he wanted to surrender since he had "completed his operation."

Norwegian police have been criticized for their response to the shooting, with some saying the response may have been too slow.