Grieving family receives student Alibava’s body
KOCHI: The body of an Indian student killed in the Christchurch mosque attacks was returned yesterday to her grieving family in Kochi, where relatives remembered a bright young woman dedicated to her studies.
Ansi Alibava, 25, was the first of five Indians shot dead by a white supremacist in New Zealand on March 15 to be repatriated.
The family planned to hold a funeral ceremony for the masters student in their nearby hometown of Kodungallur, Kerala.
Alibava was praying at the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch with her husband Abdul Nazer, whom she married two years ago, when the Australian gunman opened fire on worshippers, killing 43.
When gunfire broke out, Nazer managed to flee through an emergency exit but his wife did not make it.
Another seven were murdered at a separate mosque when the shooter later turned his weapon on Muslims there in the worst violence of its kind ever seen in New Zealand.
Some families have opted for burials in Christchurch itself, where a national remembrance service for the victims will be held on Friday, two weeks after the tragedy that shocked the world.
Born into a middle-class family in Kodungallur, Alibava started supporting her family after her father died five years ago in Saudi Arabia where he had been working.
She took thousands of dollars in loans to fund her studies in business agriculture at Christchurch’s Lincoln University.
Alibava’s cousin, P.H. Niyas, said the dedicated student was soon to finish her studies.
“She had gone there last year, the course was due to finish by April,” said Niyas.
“There was to be a six-month training (course) after which she was to return home by December.”