Shooting in the Christchurch Mosque: the desperate plea of ​​the Bangladeshi star – Kill here, save us please

A Bangladeshi journalist traveling with the cricket country in his country gave a stark insight into his experience following the shooting at the Christchurch Mosque yesterday afternoon.

The shooting took place just minutes from Hagley Oval, where the canceled event was to take place, and the Bangladesh cricket team narrowly avoided the incident, forced to flee.

The team had just arrived at Al Noor Mosque for Friday prayers when an armed man opened fire. A video showing several Bangladeshi players and media escaping from the scene.

Mohammad Isam, a Cricinfo Bangladeshi journalist who was on site and gave a descriptive account of the shocking events of the afternoon for Espncricinfo.

Read the full report here.
15h2: I get a call from Tamim Iqbal, one of the most experienced cricket players on the team, as I leave the Hagley Oval. He calls me for help. "There is shooting here, please, save us." I think he makes a joke first, but he hangs up and calls again – this time his voice starts to crack. He says I should call the police because there is a shooting inside the mosque where they are about to enter.

15h3: My first instinct is to run to the mosque. I do not even stop to think; you can call me silly for running to an active terrorist scene but I knew I had to go. Partly as a journalist, mainly as a human being.

I start running towards the main road when a lady, she too by car, asks me if I need a ride. I tell him what Tamim told me and she told me to intervene. My colleagues from Bangladesh, Mazhar Uddin and Utpal Shuvro, also join us.

3:56 p.m.: We see the entrance to Deans Avenue, where is the mosque, blocked by a police car. So we go down to the Parkview Hotel, at the corner of Deans and Riccarton avenues. I start running towards the mosque when I spot the bus from the Bangladesh team. There are some police cars and some ambulances. Some people are standing, wondering what happened near this intersection.

But when I look to my right, toward the entrance of a motel, it becomes clear: there is a body on the ground, watched by paramedics. There is blood everywhere.

14:00: I see a man running towards me, crying and holding his arm. There is really blood on his shirt. Nearby people help another man escape and shout instructions. I keep walking quickly to the bus when I see a line of Bangladeshi players running off the bus. I cross the road and when I approach, Ebadot Hossain takes my arm and tells me to run with them. At this point, I still have no idea what has actually happened. I do not even know if the team was the target of the attack.

2:02 p.m.: The players are now on the side of Hagley Park, and someone is asking for his way. The land is on their right, about 15 minutes walk. Players enter the park and start running when told to walk quickly. Not run.

2:04 p.m.: I walk with Tamim and then I see the players move away, too far apart. I ask Sohel to bring them all together. It is impossible but some of them slow down to walk together.

It's not more than one kilometer, but it's the longest few minutes of my life. The players talk about what they saw: the blood, the bodies. A senior player holds me and breaks down. There is very little that I can tell him.

2:08 p.m.: We reach the Hagley Oval and just run inside. Everyone is taken to the players' dressing room where they can finally sit down. They are visibly shaken.

17h00: The tour is interrupted by New Zealand cricket after consultation with the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the ICC.