The New Zealand mosque shooting has understandably rattled the Bangladeshi cricketers who were in close vicinity and witnessed part of the carnage.
Opener Tamim Iqbal, who was on the bus carrying the cricketers, narrated the near-death experience to Cricinfo.
He told the cricket news outlet that they had planned to go the mosque early as his team mates Mushfiqur Rahim and Mohammad Mahmudullah wanted to attend the sermon that precedes the Friday prayer. However, the bus scheduled to leave at 1:30 pm was delayed as skipper Mahmudullah was held back in a media call.
Tamim said that after the press conference the team went back to the dressing room where they “got engaged in a game of football.”
He told Cricinfo that these delays of two to three minutes saved their lives in the end.
“The plan was to go to the team hotel after prayers, which is why Shree [team analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekaran] and Soumya Sarkar were with us,” Tamim was quoted saying.
“I always sit on the sixth seat on the left. When we were getting near the mosque, everyone on my right started to see something outside the window. I saw that a body was lying on the floor. Naturally, we thought either he was drunk or had fainted. So then the bus kept going, and stopped near the mosque. But everyone's attention remained with that man lying on the ground,” he added.
Tamim said that panic set in when “another man, bloodied, and about to fall down” caught his attention.
“Our bus stopped in front of a car near the mosque. We saw that the bus driver was talking to a lady who was literally shaking and crying. She was saying, 'There's some shooting going on, don't go, don't go'” he told Cricinfo.
He said that the woman informed them that the shooting was going on inside the mosque when the driver explained that the cricketers were going there to offer their prayers.
“At that point we were about 20 yards from the mosque. Literally get out of the bus and walk to the mosque. That close. We saw some more bloodied bodies lying around,” he added.
“When we saw more dead bodies, we couldn't figure out what to do. Those wearing the namaz cap, they took it off in fear. I mean, we figured out that something was going on. Those wearing punjabi they started to wear a jacket over it,” the news outlet quoted him saying.
“We were panicking big time. Look at me, I can't even talk properly. We told the bus driver to get us out of there. Do something. But he wasn't moving. Everyone started to shout at him. I was shouting at him. For those six or seven minutes, there was no police,” he said.
He said that the players were shocked at the way the police appeared, and the way the special forces stormed the mosque.
“My whole body went cold. More injured and bloodied people started to come out of the mosque.”
He said that they started screaming at that point saying things such as 'let us go!' 'What if they shoot us when we get out?' Someone else said, 'We are in danger if we are stuck in the bus.'
“I also felt that we would have a chance to escape if we got out of the bus. We become a big target in the bus. But where will we go? Both doors are closed,” Tamim told Cricinfo.
He said that the bus driver at that point took the bus 10 metres ahead.
“I don't know why he did this. We were at breaking point at that point. Everyone lost it. We started to bang the middle door. We were kicking and punching that door. He opened the door.
“It was about eight minutes when we finally got out of the bus. Everyone said let's run though the park. Someone said that we become easier targets in the park [Hagley Park], what if the shooters just notice us there and start shooting?
The next thing that really scared us was how the police may react seeing us running with bags, etc.”
“By that time I saw you three there [Cricinfo Correspondent Mohammad Isam and journalists Utpal Shuvro and Mazhar Uddin]. I didn't realise it then but last night, I realised how big a risk you three took.
There will be very few people on earth who will take that risk. I don't think many close people would have turned up in that situation, like you came. I actually got relieved when I saw you guys. Then we all started to walk. By the time we had gone a fair distance, everyone started to run towards the ground [Hagley Oval].”
The rattled cricketer told Cricinfo that such an experience isn’t something that one forgets easily and it gets worse as time passes.
“I have spoken to a lot of my team-mates, and everyone is talking about it. The good thing is that everyone still has a little smile on their face. But trust me, inside, everyone is shattered.”
“On our way to the airport, we were telling each other that if things had gone wrong by even a little bit, it would have been our dead bodies, not us, going home. It was just a matter of 30 seconds.”
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