State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar ALam today said latest reports suggested the gun attack in Christchurch mosques in New Zealand killed two Bangladeshis contrary to the initial reports of casualties of three expats.
Talking to newsmen at a function of diplomatic reporters, he said third Bangladeshi, assumed to have died as well in the onslaught, was found alive.Shahriar said the two dead Bangladeshis were identified as Professor Abdus Samad and Hosne Ara Parvin.
Shahriar, however, said three Bangladeshi expatriates were apparently missing while five were wounded in the attack and two of them were critically injured.
He said the five injured were identified as Lipi, Muntasim, Sheikh Hassan Rubel, Shahjada Akhtar and Omor Farooq adding the first two were critical wounded in the attack.
Shahriar said three missing Bangladeshis were Mozammel Haque, Zakaria Bhuiyan and Shaon.
Bangladesh’s High Commission to Australia yesterday said of the 49 dead three were of Bangladesh origin.
Bangladesh does not have any embassy in New Zealand as Dhaka’s High Commissioner in Canberra is concurrently accredited to the neigbouring country while Dhaka appointed a honourary consul in Auckland to look into the Bangladesh’s interest in New Zealand.
The state minister’s comments came as he joined a seminar organized by Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) marking its 21st anniversary at the auditorium of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS).
After the incident Bangladesh Honorary Consul in New Zealand Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan and Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Australia along with a official reached Christchurch from Auckland and Canberra to provide necessary support to affected Bangladeshis there.
(BSS)
