As many as 3 Bangladeshis were killed and several wounded in the shooting incident in two mosques in New Zealand. The Bangladesh cricket team, currently in New Zealand, has aborted its tour and will be flying back as soon as possible
Christchurch: It was a black Friday for Bangladesh as it has lost three of its citizens in the macabre mosque shootings in New Zealand's Christchurch.
Bangladesh honorary consul Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan said Abdus Samad, a teacher at Lincoln University and his wife were killed in the shootings. The third victim has been identified as Hosne Ara Farid.
Several other Bangladeshis were also wounded in the terrorist attack. “Two of them are in critical condition,” Bhuiyan told.
Another Bangladeshi has been missing since the shooting during Jum’a prayers.
New Zealand government says 49 people have been killed and more than 20 seriously wounded in the incident. Four suspects have been detained.
Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina strongly condemned the attack.
Hasina offered deep condolences in a message sent to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The opposition party BNP too joined the Bangladesh prime minister in condemning the attack.
“We’ve come to know Bangladeshi cricketers narrowly escaped the attacks by terrorists in New Zealand’s Christchurch. We thank the almighty Allah for it,” joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said.
The BNP leader further said,” We’re deeply worried over such attacks. We strongly condemn it and express our deep shock over the loss of lives and injures in the attacks.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has decided to bring back its cricketers as early as possible.
Tigers team manager Khaled Mashud said the Bangladesh team bus was about 50 yards away from one of the mosques that was attacked. “The team is lucky to escape,” he told the media in a video message.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan told the media that they had spoken with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam to make arrangements to bring back the players within the quickest possible time.
“He has assured me to do so,” Hassan said.
Mashud said they are trying to arrange tickets. “We’re at least 19 people who will go back to Bangladesh. Some of our coaching staffs will go to South Africa or the West Indies. They will get tickets easily,” he said.
“It (the incident) had a big impact on the cricketers. We saw some wounded people coming out of the place. It was horrible. Some of our players were crying. We didn’t know whether we can be affected or not. As the team manager, I tried to bring them back to the stadium,” Mashud said in a video message to the media.
The third and final Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh has been called off.
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