A Norwegian couple with many years of experience in rescue work and health care, who were in Kraków for a weekend trip on Saturday, first fled the gunman’s bullets and then returned to help the wounded, the Norwegian daily VG reported on Monday.
Journalists at Norway’s largest newspaper described the story of a Norwegian couple who came to Kraków for a weekend getaway. The woman is a nurse anesthetist, and her husband worked for 20 years as a paramedic with the fire department. During Saturday’s attack, the woman helped a person who had been shot in the chest, while the man cared for a woman injured by shards of glass.
When the shooting began, the couple were sitting with friends in a restaurant on the Main Square (Rynek Główny). Around 3 p.m., they heard the first bangs, which they initially took for fireworks. When they saw people running away, they began to run as well.
“We saw a car driving through the square at enormous speed. We heard many shots. A moment later, police cars went after it,” the Norwegian man told VG journalists.
After a short while, the Norwegian couple went back to the scene, and when they saw people performing resuscitation on a wounded woman, they began giving first aid themselves. The Norwegian woman tended to the woman who had been shot in the chest.
“I think she saved her life,” her husband said. He himself helped a woman whose body had been pierced by numerous fragments of shattered glass.
After more police units arrived, the Norwegian couple were reportedly asked to remain inside the cordon and continue providing aid. Once the victims had been taken to ambulances, the couple gave statements at a police station. They returned to Norway on Sunday.
Six people were killed in Saturday’s attack in Kraków. On Monday, 15 wounded people, including two police officers, remained in six hospitals. One of the officers was in serious condition. The perpetrator, 24-year-old Michał Oksiński, died in a hospital early Monday.
Kraków is a popular destination for Norwegians. In 2025, more than 34,000 tourists from Norway stayed in accommodations in the city. Thirty direct flights a week depart from five Norwegian airports for Kraków, 21 of them from Oslo.
Mieszko Czarnecki, Oslo (PAP)
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