More than 24 hours after the terror attack at two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch city, a man from Hyderabad remains missing while another who was shot at is recovering.
Mohammed Sayeeduddin was still waiting for information about his son Farhaj Ahsan, 31, who remained missing.
"We are still waiting for information. He is still listed as missing," an anxious Sayeeduddin told IANS on Saturday.
Farhaj's wife and her uncle, who rushed from Australia, were at a hospital in Christchurch, waiting for the authorities to provide some information.
Farhaj, a software engineer, was at Al Noor mosque for Friday prayers when the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on worshippers.
He used to regularly offer Friday prayers at Al Noor as he lives in a nearby neighbourhood with his wife and two children.
Like every day, Sayeeduddin rang up his son, unaware of what was going on at the mosque. "We speak to him over phone every day around afternoon and today being Friday I rang him around 8 a.m. but he did not respond," the father had told IANS hours after the mass killing.
At least 49 people were killed and several others injured after an Australian extremist opened fire in two mosques during Friday prayers, authorities said, in an apparently livestreamed attack that forced the New Zealand city of Christchurch into lockdown.
Sayeeduddin then called his daughter-in-law, who informed that there has been an attack at the mosque and she had failed to reach Farhaj over his mobile phone.
She later went to hospitals with a picture of her husband and after a long wait, the authorities told her that he is among 19 people missing.
Farhaj, who did his MS from Auckland University, worked for various companies.
Ahmed Iqbal Jehangir, another man from Hyderabad who was also at the same mosque, was injured. He received a bullet on his chest.
"Alhamdulillah (grateful to Allah). He is out of danger and recovering," his brother Mohammed Khursheed Jehangir told IANS in Hyderabad on Saturday.
According to information received by Khursheed, a surgery was performed on Ahmed at a hospital in Christchurch and it was successful.
Ahmed, settled in New Zealand for 15 years, stays in the same neighbourhood where the tragedy struck and runs a Hyderabadi food restaurant near Al Noor mosque. His wife and children were safe.
Khursheed plans to leave for New Zealand to see his brother.
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has tweeted to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, urging her to provide immediate assistance to the two families to facilitate their travel to New Zealand.
The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief later tweeted again to thank Sushma Swaraj for personally updating him about the efforts of the Foreign Ministry in assisting Ahmed and Ahsan's families.
At least nine people of Indian nationality or Indian origin are missing after the terror attacks on two Christchurch mosques, Indian envoy to New Zealand Sanjiv Kohli tweeted, citing updates received from multiple sources.
--IANS
