CHRISTCHURCH: The disturbing stories of those who lost their loved ones in the barbaric New Zealand mosque attack continue to unfold, and in one such case, a Bangladeshi woman identified as Husna Ara Parvin, also lost her life while trying to save her paraplegic husband.
Husna Ara belonged to the village of Jangalhata in Sylhet’s Golapganj, lived in Christchurch with her paraplegic husband Farid Uddin Ahmed.
The Bangla Tribune reported that Husna Ara wheeled Farid to the mosque for the Friday prayers. The men’s and women’s sections were segregated, so when the shooting broke out, the couple did not know what the condition of the other was. According to Husna’s nephew Mahfuz Chowdhury, she rushed out 15 minutes into the shooting to check on Farid, when she was caught in the crosshairs and shot dead.
Farid had been wheeled out to safety by others in the mosque. New Zealand police have confirmed the death to her family.
Attacks on two Christchurch mosques left at least 49 dead Friday, with one gunman — identified as an Australian extremist — apparently livestreaming the assault that triggered the lockdown of the New Zealand city, according to Reuters.
Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after 49 people were killed and dozens wounded in mass shootings.
Tarrant, handcuffed and wearing a white prison suit, stood silently in the Christchurch District Court where he was remanded without a plea. He is due back in court on April 5 and police said he was likely to face further charges.
