“Norway’s toughest” winner in a diving accident in Oslo – The friend about the accident:

– I thought he was going to die and was very scared. Everything happened very quickly, but it felt like hours there and then, says Nora Johnsdatter Bendixen (25) to Dagbladet.

It has been four weeks since she witnessed her friend Geir Kåre Nyland (30) injured himself badly in a diving accident at Tomtekaia in Oslo.

Geir Kåre hit the bottom with his head first. In front of shocked spectators, the MMA fighter was transported by ambulance to hospital, where a fracture was found in the back.

Nora spoke first Avisa Nordland.

– Immediately panicked

The 25-year-old says that they were five friends who together went down to Sørenga to swim on the sunny Sunday. At the far end of Sørenga it was packed, but on the pier at the Munch Museum they found a free place.

There were several who jumped from the pier. Several bathing ladders have been set up, and a lifebuoy is hanging on a railing. The group of friends did not notice any warning signs that they should be extra careful here.

After throwing away their things, Nora, Geir Kåre and a friend went to the pier to jump into the sea together.

– I got a bad stomach feeling when I do not like to jump, so I went to the ladder. He third said “wait a minute, let’s see if it’s too shallow”. Then it was too late. Geir Kåre had already taken off and went for a military dive, says Nora.

She was still on her way to the ladder when her friend suddenly appeared out of the water, covered in blood, and with a large cut on her skull.

– I immediately panicked, but thought that “now I have to stay calm and get an ambulance”.

One of the friends got into the water with the lifebuoy, says Nora, and managed to keep Geir Kåre up until the ambulance personnel arrived.

He was conscious and already then expressed that he could not feel his legs.

Lamb from the breast down

– It was cruel, Nora says about the hours after the accident.

Due to infection control restrictions, not everyone was allowed to enter the hospital. She was always afraid that bad news would come.

The next day, the former “Norway’s toughest” winner underwent surgery, but was still paralyzed from the chest down.

This weekend, Nora finally got to meet her friend face to face, for the first time since their eyes met on the way into the ambulance. However, they have kept in daily contact over the phone in recent weeks.

– It goes very up and down with him, of course, but it is extremely inspiring and impressive to see how he handles this – that he dares to be open and show vulnerability, says Nora.

– He says that he has gradually regained the feeling from the chest down to the stomach, but so far we do not know much what the future brings.

Geir Kåre Nyland confirms the information and the course of events described by his friend to Dagbladet. However, he does not recognize that the comrade should have said that they should see if the water was shallow, as he himself had gained speed towards the pier edge.

When asked how he is doing, he answers the following in a text message:

– I wake up every day to a nightmare. Just want to go back to my dreams again.

Shortly after the accident, Geir Kåre’s friends, under the auspices of MMA star Emil Meek, set up a fundraiser to help the top athlete on his way back to as normal a life as possible. On Monday morning, more than NOK 1.6 million was collected.

– He has a long way to go, and we want to help remove stress and ensure him the best possible treatment. The only thing he has to think about is getting better, Meek has previously said Dagbladet.

Alarms: – Sad

Critical to the labeling

Geir Kåre’s sister, Zekiye Nyland has previously directed criticism at Oslo Municipality, which she believes has done too little to warn people of the dangers of diving from the pier where the accident occurred.

The water there is very shallow. Plaques have been put up along the planks on the pier edge, where it is informed that one should not dive.

Nora first discovered these signs when she returned to the scene after the accident. She says that she then measured around ten meters distance between the signs. On the day of the accident, it was not possible to see them, as people sat on top or stood in their way, she says.

– It is a great breach of trust that they had not set up clearer labeling. Of course, if we had seen the signs, he would not have fallen. We were five up-and-coming and sober people and no one was going to be tough, says Nora.

The Urban Environment Agency in Oslo municipality decided a few days after the accident that more of the same plaques should be ordered to increase visibility. When Dagbladet visited the pier on Thursday morning, there were signs every five meters along the pier.

– As an immediate measure, we have put up extra signs that warn against diving, writes press contact in the Urban Environment Agency, Arve Rosland, in an e-mail.

In addition, the agency will review the signage as a whole, he says, and decide whether it can be further clarified.

Among other things, a risk mapping of the underwater conditions along the quaysides is carried out, which becomes the basis for assessing measures in particularly exposed locations.

– There are many suggestions on the table, but to find the right measures and the right scope, we need this assessment, Rosland writes.

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