3 Bangladeshis still missing, more deaths feared [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

3 Bangladeshis still missing, more deaths feared

Local March 17, 2019

Three Bangladeshi victims of terror attacks in two mosques at Christchurch in New Zealand were missing till Saturday afternoon as the incident left 49 people including two Bangladeshis dead and scores injured, Bangladesh authorities said.
Ten Bangladeshis were affected in the attacks, two of them died and ‘three persons are missing,’ state minister M Shahriar Alam said at a function organised by Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday.
The three missing persons were Mozammel Haq, Shaon and Zakaria Bhuiyan, he said.
Among the five injured, Lipi was critically injured, he said, adding that Mutassim, Hasan Rubel, Omar Faruk and Shahjada Akher were undergoing treatment in hospitals under New Zealand government’s arrangement, he said.
The government would provide all assistance to bring the bodies back if their families want, Alam said.
Bangladesh honorary consul general in Auckland Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan reiterated on Saturday that former Bangladesh Agricultural University professor Abdus Samad and Hosne Ara Farid of Bishwanath of Sylhet were among the 49 persons killed in the attacks during Friday prayers.
Bhuiyan, who reached Christchurch on Saturday morning, told New Age that there was wrong information from the community on Friday that spouse of Professor Samad was also killed in the incident. ‘She is fine,’ he told New Age.
He said, at Bangladesh time about 4:00pm on Saturday, that the New Zealand authorities were yet to provide any specific information about the persons killed of different nationalities.
Bangladesh authorities were expecting that they would get clear person-specific information after completion of forensic tests and legal assessments and arrangements by the New Zealand government, Bangladesh officials said, adding that death toll might rise in the next rounds of assessments.
When New Age sought more information about the missing persons, Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, Bangladesh High Commissioner in Australia with concurrent responsibility to New Zealand, said ‘We’ll continue to consider them as missing until and unless we get specific information about them.’
The New Zealand authorities assured that they would provide treatment for all persons injured in the incident, he said.
Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan may be contacted at his mobile phone number +64 21024 65819 and Tareq Ahmed at +61 450 657 046, according to Bangladesh high commission.
All the diplomats at Bangladesh high commission in Canberra are available round the clock for information and assistance. Two additional numbers for emergency contact are +61 424 472544, +61 450173035.
A three-member team including Bangladesh deputy high commissioner Tareq Ahmed and honorary consul general Bhuiyan reached Christchurch on Saturday morning to extend support to the Bangladeshi victims, Rahman said, adding that the Bangladesh high commission and the visiting team at Christchurch would remain available to extend support round the clock.
Foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque, foreign secretary Mohammad Touhid Hossain, BIISS chairman Munshi Foiz Ahmad, Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow of CPD, former DCAB presidents Alamgir Hossain, Shyamal Dutta and Anis Alamgir and incumbent DCAB president Raheed Ejaz and general secretary Nurul Islam Hasib, among others, spoke at the function organised on the occasion of the 21st founding anniversary of the organisation.
Meanwhile, distressed Bangladesh cricket team which left New Zealand on Saturday for home was still in a state of shock and disbelief after they narrowly escaped the deadly shooting in two Christchurch mosques.
At least 17 members of the Bangladesh cricket team drove up to the Masjid al Noor in a bus to join Friday prayers when the mosque came under attack by a gunman.
New Age Correspondent in Narayanganj reported that Omar Faruk of Narayanganj Bandar upazila was missing after the terror attacks at Christchurch in New Zealand.
Faruk’s wife Sanjida Zaman Neha said her husband, who was working for a construction firm there, was missing after the mosque attacks in New Zealand.
‘He talked to me on Thursday night for the last time,’ she said adding that Faruk’s roommate was contacted, but he could not give any further information.
Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Mukti Council, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat and Noble laureate professor Muhammad Yunus, in separate statements on Saturday, condemned the attacks.