The Bangladesh cricketers who returned home Saturday are all praises for the three Bangladeshi journalists who were the first to respond to the players caught in the situation.
A group of 17 members of the Bangladesh cricket team were fortunate to escape being part of the heinous terror attacks at the Christchurch mosques Friday which claimed lives of at least 50, and left many others severely injured.
The Bangladesh cricketers had gone to the Al Noor Masjid mosque for the Friday afternoon prayers, only to come face to face with the horrific scenes which occurred just a few minutes back.
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
The cricketers took to the floor of the bus that was only yards away from the mosque, and remained in that state for eight to 10 minutes before calling for help.
Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal reached out for help, first calling ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent Mohammad Isam, which the journalist initially thought was a prank.
To find the truth, The Daily Star’s sports reporter Mazhar Uddin called Tamim back and once the gravity of the situation was understood, both Isam and Mazhar started walking towards the Al Noor mosque, along with Prothom Alo sports editor Utpal Shuvro.
Stunning account of the Christchurch shooting from @Isam84 ... keeping his wits about him throughout an unbelievable and awful ordeal https://t.co/Qr0SpARaUA
— Andrew Miller (@miller_cricket) March 15, 2019
Tamim had sought help from the police, but found the trio of journalists minutes later.
Together, the Bangladesh cricketers and the three journalists walked back to the Hagley Oval from the mosque.
“That was the moment that the gravity of the moment hit me like a ton of bricks - or a shower of bullets - and I called the police and started running towards the mosque. But I was not sure why I was heading in that direction,” wrote Mazhar in his article following the tragic incident.
@Isam84 @mazhar05 Wat u guys hv done fr us is smthin tht we cannot thanku enough fr. We nevr expected fr u to cm to save us literally running WITHOUT any security just out of humanity to help us. We will remember this forever https://t.co/wDKKv0GtYE
— Tamim Iqbal Khan (@TamimOfficial28) March 17, 2019
“I don't even stop to think; you can call me an idiot for running towards an active terrorism scene but I knew I just had to go. Partly as a journalist, mainly as a human being,” Isam wrote in his tour diary.
Tamim Sunday took to his social media account to thank the brave hearts for showing up and helping them, in the process putting themselves in grave danger.
“What u guys have done for us is something that we cannot thank you enough for. We never expected for you to come to save us literally running WITHOUT any security just out of humanity to help us. We will remember this till our last breath,” said Tamim on Twitter.
