New Zealand mosque shooting: Bangladesh's tour called off after visitors narrowly escape Christchurch gun attacks

Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand has been called off following gun attacks on a Christchurch mosque, which the members of the touring side narrowly escaped. Multiple people were killed and several were injured in the shooting.

New Zealand and Bangladesh on Friday cancelled the third and the final Test in wake of the attacks. Some of the members of the Bangladesh cricket team were present at the mosque for the Friday prayers at the time of the attack. The players escaped unscathed and fled to the nearby Hagley Oval.

According to reports, the team is currently in lockdown.

“We are shocked and appalled, as I’m sure all New Zealanders are,” NZ Cricket chief executive David White told TVNZ.

“I have spoken to my counterpart in Bangladesh and we both agree that it’s inappropriate to play cricket at this time.”

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal tweeted “entire team got saved from active shooters. Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.”

Performance analyst Shrinivas Chandrasekeran, also on Twitter, said “Just escaped active shooters. Heartbeats pumping badly and panic everywhere.”

Player Mushfiqur Rahim posted “Alhamdulillah Allah save us today while shooting in Christchurch in the mosque. We (were) extremely lucky…never want to see this things happen again….pray for us.”

Mario Villavarayen, a strength and conditioning coach with the team, told New Zealand media the players did not see the shooter but heard shots. He said they were shaken but unhurt.

“I spoke to one of them shortly after,” Vllavarayen said. They didn’t see anything but heard gunshots. They were at the ground and just started running. The coaching staff were all at the hotel."

The final Test was scheduled to commence on Saturday.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those affected by the shocking situation in Christchurch. A joint decision between NZC and the @BCBtigers has been made to cancel the Hagley Oval Test. Again both teams and support staff groups are safe.

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 15, 2019

An ESPNCricinfo reporter who was with the Bangladeshi team when they managed to escape the site of the shooting, has uploaded a video of the team fleeing.

Bangladesh team escaped from a mosque near Hagley Park where there were active shooters. They ran back through Hagley Park back to the Oval. pic.twitter.com/VtkqSrljjV

— Mohammad Isam (@Isam84) March 15, 2019

With inputs from AFP and AP