Torp hostage crisis

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Torp hostage crisis
Location	Sandefjord Airport, Norway
Date	September 28 - September 29, 1994
Attack type	hostage-taking
Weapon(s)	Guns / Handguns
Deaths	1 (one of the hostage takers)
Injured	no injuries
Perpetrator(s)	Robert Domalski and Dario Hanjet

The Torp hostage crisis occurred on September 28, 1994 at Sandefjord Airport, Torp, Norway. Two Swedish robbers took two police officers and two pensioners as hostages. The police freed the hostages and killed one of the hostage takers. It is the only incident in peace time that a Norwegian police chief has given the orders to shoot to kill.

[edit] Line of events

Two Swedish-based men Robert Domalski, originally from the Czech Republic, and Dario Hanjet, originally from Croatia, robbed a small post office in Østre Halsen, just outside Larvik. Their car broke down during the escape and they eventually ended up in the homes of an elderly couple in Larvik after taking a 44 year old female police officer as hostage the following nigh after the robbery. A negotiator from Sandefjord police station was brought in to negotiate with the hostage takers and communicated with the hostage takers through police radio, which meant that the entire press was able to listen in. They were led to believe that they would be given an airplane at the nearest airport, at Torp, but upon arrival they quickly realized that they had been fooled.

In an attempt to give the hostage takers new batteries for the police radio, the negotiator was himself taken hostage. He was then told that he was going to be killed if the demands of the kidnappers were not met, which was a sum of USD 10 million and passage out of the country within the hour. He was forced to do the countdown to his own execution, every five minutes from 08:30. At 08:58 he reported through the radio: "it's now 2 minutes until I will get shot". Few seconds later Beredskapstroppen (the Hostage Rescue Team) launched an attack that saved all hostages and killed Robert Domalski. He was killed by snipers. This is the only time in Norwegian peace history when a direct order to shoot to kill has been given. Due to the MS Estonia sinking, the incident received little press attention, although a mini TV-series was made for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), in 2005. The film has since been publicised on DVD.^[1]