6 Aug 2011

Second NZ family bereaved in Norway massacre

8:00 am on 6 August 2011

The wife of a New Zealander has been confirmed as one of the victims of the Norwegian massacre.

Ida Marie Hill, 34, was one of 77 people killed in two attacks on 22 July.

Anders Behring Breivik has admitted setting off a bomb in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, then going on a shooting rampage on an island nearby.

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Kjertsti Brokhaug says Ms Hill was killed while at work at the Ministry of Justice in Oslo, near where the bomb had been placed.

Ms Brokhaug told Morning Report that the 34-year-old was a lawyer who had previously worked for Amnesty International and the UNHCR.

Norway's Minister of Justice and Mrs Hill's manager have said she was a loved and valued colleague, working as a lawyer on international issues such as child kidnapping.

Ms Hill, a Norwegian, was married to New Zealander Steven Hall. A death notice in the New Zealand Herald says she was abruptly and senselessly taken from her family. Her funeral will be in Norway next week.

On Friday, the funeral of New Zealand-born teenager Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn is taking place.

The 14-year-old died in the massacre on Utoeya island, where she had been attending a summer camp for the Labour Party's youth wing.

Born in Palmerston North, she was partly of Norwegian descent and had been living in Norway since she was a baby.

Prime Minister John Key has extended his sympathies to both families.

About 50 funerals are scheduled around Norway during the next few days for victims of the attacks.