Fears for the injured and missing in the Christchurch mosque shooting
Saturday, 16 March 2019
Nuha Assad just wants to know what happened to her husband.
She left home in Christchurch on Friday morning to go shopping and her husband, Ali Elmadani, went to pray at the mosque just around the corner from their Riccarton home.
Assad had forgotten her phone. When a gunman entered Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave and opened fire, killing 41 and injuring many more, she could not reach him to check if he survived.
'I asked people on the street if I could use their phone. I called my husband and he didn't pick up, but I'm sure he didn't want his phone at the mosque,' she said.
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'Even his ID he wouldn't have taken because it's just a short walk.'
With her phone at home and inside the police cordon encompassing Deans Ave and surrounding streets, Assad spent the next nine hours looking for answers. She waited at the hospital for hours before staff directed her to the cordon.
Assad hoped to get through, retrieve her phone and call her children. Her son was safe, but she had not been able to contact her daughters who lived overseas.
She wanted answers from emergency services.
'Just to know. Just to know what happened to him … I want to know.'
For Assad's friend, Ayda Quraan, the desire to know had turned to frustration.
'We need to know. In our religion we need to bury them as fast as we can … We need some communication between us and them [emergency services],' Quraan said.
'It's like a nightmare. I wish I could wake up from this and it's a dream. But it's reality.'
Assad and her family had been in New Zealand for 22 years. She was still in shock that such a violent attack could happen in her new home country.
'It's innocent people. They've come to pray … Why? Why did this happen?
'New Zealand, it's a quiet place, a safe place. Some times we go to sleep and forget the key outside our door.'
There are 48 wounded in Christchurch Hospital. Of those, 20 are critical. Here is what is known about the injured and missing:
Brothers Zaid and Hamza Mustafa, who are students at Cashmere High School, were at the mosque in Deans Avenue when the shooting occurred, principal Mark Wilson said.
The boys, are in years 9 and 12, are in hospital, though the extent of their injuries is unclear.
A third boy from the school was unaccounted for, Wilson said.
Sheikh Hasan Rubel was shot and is in hospital, according to his friend Helal Uddin, president of the Bangladesh Club. His condition is unknown.
Haji-Daoud Nabi, who runs the Afghan Association, was attending Friday prayers at Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue and is unaccounted for, according to his son.
Omar Nabi said he had called his father several times on Friday but could not get hold of him.
He told Stuff: 'I need to know if my father is OK. He's a very humble man that's helped a lot of people.'
Rahimi Ahmad was injured after attending the Masjid Al Noor mosque, according to Canterbury Malaysian Society president Sam Yau.
'I don't know what happened to him but I know from one of his friends that he is in hospital,' Yau said.
Another two members of the Malaysian community were also injured and are in hospital, he added.
Kamel Darwish is missing after attending Friday prayers at the Deans Ave mosque, his brother Zuahair Darwish said. After going to the scene he was directed by police to Christchurch Hospital, but he could not find Kamel there so returned to the mosque on Friday night.