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Home / New Zealand

Christchurch mosque shootings: 'Please bring me good news of my son,' heartbroken dad's plea to New Zealand

Kirsty Wynn
By Kirsty Wynn
Reporter·NZ Herald·
16 Mar, 2019 01:24 AM2 mins to read

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Jacinda Ardern addresses Muslim leaders at the Canterbury refugee centre and speaks to Ethnic Affairs Minister Jenny Salesa.

A 30-year-old father of two young children is among the missing after the Christchurch attacks - and his wife and family are desperate for news.

Farhaj Ashan, 30, left the Christchurch home he shares with wife Insha Aziz, his 3-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son yesterday morning.

"He went for Friday prayer as usual and then this happened. I do not know where my son is," Ashan's father Mohammad Sayeeduddin told the NZ Herald from his home in Hyderabad, India.

"I have been in contact with his wife Insha in New Zealand since it happened and we don't know anything.

"Please bring me good news on my son."

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The family of missing father of two, Farhaj Ashan, are desperate to hear good news after the mosque attacks. Photo / Supplied
The family of missing father of two, Farhaj Ashan, are desperate to hear good news after the mosque attacks. Photo / Supplied

Ashan is a software engineer who did his master's degree at the University of Auckland in 2010 before settling in Christchurch.

Mohammed said the family had planned to visit their son in Christchurch later this year.

Mohammed was receiving some assistance from his local member of parliament but was waiting to hear from New Zealand authorities.

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Friends supporting Ashan's wife at the couple's Christchurch home said she was not accepting he was among the dead in the mosque.

So far 49 people have lost their lives in the shootings at the Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave and the Linwood Masjid, on Linwood Ave on Friday.

Forty-one people died at the Deans Ave mosque, seven died at Linwood and one died in hospital.

Eighty-seven people presented at Christchurch Hospital yesterday after the massacres at two mosques in the city, and three others presented at other community clinics.

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Last night there were 17 people unidentified. It is understood that through the night more people had been identified and that number had been reduced to six.

"There is still hope he is among the injured who have not been identified," close friend Ashras Mohammed said.

"We are hoping that he is all right and we will hear something soon."

Mohammed, who is a long-term friend of Ashan, said he and his wife would stay at the Christchurch house until Insha's family arrived from Australia to support her.

"We are making sure she is not alone at this time, there is always someone here with her."

"It is very distressing, everyone is distraught but we have hope."

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Australian-born Dunedin resident Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, appeared in court this morning charged with murder after the shootings.

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