In a shocking turn of events, several members of the Bangladesh cricket team narrowly escaped from a mass shooting at a Christchurch mosque on New Zealand's South Island on Friday. Players and the members of the coaching staff were reportedly on their bus, approaching the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Hagley Park when the shooting broke out.
As per media reports, the players were initially barred from leaving the bus but, after several minutes, disembarked and made their way through to the Hagley Park ground. After that, they went back to their hotel. The manager Khaled Mashud is in contact with both the New Zealand Cricket and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
The team though is in a state of shock by the turn of events. The players took to social media to inform fans and family of their safety and also asked them to pray for those in the crisis. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal tweeted “entire team got saved from active shooters. Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.”
Performance analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekaran, also on Twitter, said “Just escaped active shooters. Heartbeats pumping badly and panic everywhere.”
Player Mushfiqur Rahim posted “Alhamdulillah Allah save us today while shooting in Christchurch in the mosque.”
Mohammad Isam, a journalist travelling with the Bangladesh team, said he believed the players wish to leave New Zealand as soon as possible.
“It was very traumatic there and people were running out from that mosque presumably and the Bangladesh players were coming out. They are in terrible and severe mental (distress), they're not feeling well,” he said.
“They were just outside the mosque about to get off from the bus and go into the mosque when they heard shooting and a lot of people running out and they saw someone wounded in front of them.
“I don't they're in a mental state to play cricket at all. I think they want to go back home as soon as possible,” he added.