Bangladesh’s national cricket team has narrowly dodged New Zealand’s mosque attacks, which have killed at least 49 people.
During Friday prayers, attackers entered two mosques in the city of Christchurch and opened fire on worshippers in what has been called the worst attack in New Zealand’s history.
Members of the Bangladeshi team were en route to pray at the Masjid Al Noor Mosque before a scheduled test match against host team New Zealand, according to Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star.
However, when the players were about to enter the mosque, a woman warned them that there was shooting inside and the team took cover on the floor of their bus.
“We were very lucky because we were not inside that place,” team manager Khaled Mashud told reporters after the attack.
“We saw it from outside, like watching a video, like in the movies. We saw many people coming out bloodied,” he said.
“We were in the bus for about eight to 10 minutes. We had our heads down in the bus, just in case there was firing,” added Mashud.
Batsman Tamim Iqbal Khan also wrote on Twitter: Entire team got saved from active shooters!!! Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.”
