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The nationalities of some of the victims of the terrorist attack on Muslim worshippers in New Zealand have begun to emerge as anxious relatives and friends wait for news of loved ones at Christchurch hospital.
Forty-one people were killed at Al-Noor mosque and a further seven at Linwood mosque in the city. Another person died later in hospital, where 48 people were receiving treatment.
An official said the patients ranged from young children to adults, and the injuries from minor to critical.
None of the dead have been formally identified yet, and police have appealed for people to register missing persons, or register themselves as alive, online. The New Zealand Red Cross has published a list of missing persons on its website, which includes people from countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
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Bangladesh's honorary consul in Auckland said at least three Bangladeshis had been killed and at least four others were injured. Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan said two of the injured were in critical condition: one person's leg had to be amputated and another had gunshot wounds to his chest.
Turkish citizens
Five Pakistani citizens were missing, a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry said, and another four were injured, according to a ministry statement.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said at least three Turkish citizens were injured.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry said two citizens, a father and his son, were injured. A spokesman said the father was in intensive care and his son was being treated at the same hospital. He declined to identify them, but the man’s wife, Alta Marie, said on Facebook that her husband, Zulfirman Syah, and their son were being treated at Christchurch hospital.
“My husband was shot in multiple places and has a drain in his lung and has been in surgery,” she wrote. “I was recently united with my son, who has a gunshot wound to the leg and backside. He is traumatised.”
People in Malaysia spoke of their attempts to get through to relatives caught up in the attack. The Malay Mail named one of the injured victims as Rahimi Ahmad, who was in a critical condition after being shot in the abdomen and spine at Al-Noor mosque. He was due to undergo more surgery to remove the bullets on Saturday.
Mass shooting
Ahmad, a technician, moved to New Zealand from Penang four years ago to support his wife, Norazila Wahid, who is studying there. The couple have two children, aged nine and 11. The eldest boy, Ahmad Razif, was also at the mosque compound during the attack but was not thought to be injured.
Arrangements were being made for Ahmad’s mother, Rokiah Mohammad, to fly to New Zealand to join the family. She told the Malay Mail: “When I heard about the mass shooting, I tried calling my daughter-in-law but I could not contact her. I was so worried because he goes to a mosque near his house which looked like the mosque in the news.”
Another injured Malaysian national was identified in the New Strait Times as Mohd Tarmizi Shuib, a flight simulator operator.
Mohd Nazri Hisham Omar (46), another Malaysian citizen, was badly injured, according to his wife, Zurinawati Mohi. She was travelling for work when she was alerted to the attack by a friend, she told the New Straits Times.
“I immediately called my husband and three children but my calls went unanswered,” she said. “Not long after that, one of my kids sent me a WhatsApp message telling me their father was injured.” – Guardian