A full week after their incredibly heroic efforts made the pages of Finland's largest daily newspaper, their story has bobbed its way across the Atlantic and onto our shores. It concerns Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen, a lesbian couple from Norway who were sharing a quiet dinner near the doomed island of Utoya when they began to "hear gunfire and screaming" coming from the island: Anders Behring Breivik's shooting rampage had begun.

Translated from the Helsingin Sanomat account:

"We were eating. Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake," says Dale to HS in an interview.

The couple immediately took action and pushed the boat into Lake Tyrifjorden.

Dalen and Hansen drove the boat to the island, picked up victims in shock, the young and wounded, and transported them to the opposite shore to the mainland. Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat.

Since there were so many and not all fit at once aboard, they returned to the island four times.

They were able to rescue 40 young people from the clutches of the killer.

In other uplifting Norway news, Muhammad Ali sent a letter to the people of Norway, in which he wrote that his "heart goes out to each of you as you deal with the unimaginable grief of your loss...I see the same wishes for our children to have happy, healthy lives; I see the same concerns for others less fortunate than ourselves; I see the same desire for peace and dignity." [hs.fi via talkaboutequality, screen grab via hs.fi]