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I survived while my brothers died: Christchurch survivor

March 21, 2019 9:21 am

Former Nadi Resident, Azmat Hussein says while he survived, his brothers died around him.

Attending Friday’s prayers last week at the Masjid Al Noor on Deans Avenue in Christchurch, Hussein recounts his traumatic escape in which a number of his friends and fellow worshippers were killed.

“But what happened everybody when they crash inside, we were one on top of another, made a huge pile.  I was in a baby crawling position when a shot hit me right on my back and it slit and the brother next to me died on the spot and the other two on the left and slowly the pile of people who were on top of me, they were been slaughtered, they were just falling down.  I managed to break the door.”

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Hussein says every time he closes his eyes now, he can only see the horrific and brutal killings, a senseless tragedy that will haunt him forever.

“We’ve already had three funerals, we have another two coming on, we have to pray now and tomorrow (today) will be more as we heard that tomorrow there will be another 25 funerals.  It’s really painful, we pray, we cry, we do everything.  But we can’t help it just because of some idiot it happened.”

Meanwhile, for now, Hussein says he is focused on paying his last respects to all those who have died, the trauma however of Friday’s killing spree he still finds profound.