NZ mosque attack death toll hits 50
Kin preparing to bury victims
CHRISTCHURCH (AP) — Anguished relatives anxiously waited yesterday for authorities to release the remains of those who were killed in massacres at two mosques in this New Zealand city, while police announced that the death toll from the racist attacks had risen to 50.
Islamic law calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours, but two days after the worst terrorist attack in the country’s modern history, relatives remained unsure when they would be able to bury their loved ones.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police were working with pathologists and coroners to release the bodies as soon as they could.
“We have to be absolutely clear on the cause of death and confirm their identity before that can happen,” Bush said.
“But we are so aware of the cultural and religious needs. So we are doing that as quickly and as sensitively as possible,” he added.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said a small number of bodies would be released to families starting last night, and authorities hoped to release all the bodies by Wednesday.
Police said they had released a preliminary list of the victims to families, which has helped give closure to some relatives who were waiting for any news.
The scale of the tragedy and the task still ahead became clear as supporters arrived from across the country to help with the burial rituals in Christchurch and authorities sent in backhoes to dig new graves in a Muslim burial area that was newly fenced off and blocked from view with white netting.
The suspect in the shootings, 28-year-old white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, appeared in court on Saturday amid strict security, shackled and wearing allwhite prison garb, and showed no emotion when the judge read him one murder charge and said more would likely follow.
Tarrant had posted a jumbled 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto online before the attacks and apparently used a helmet-mounted camera to broadcast live the video of the slaughter.
Ardern said the gunman had sent the manifesto to her office email about nine minutes before the attacks, although she had not gotten the email directly herself. She said her office was one of about 30 recipients and had forwarded the email to parliamentary security within a couple of minutes of receiving it.
At a news conference yesterday, Bush said they found another body at Al Noor mosque as they finished removing the victims, bringing the number of people killed there to 42. Another seven people were killed at Linwood mosque and one more person died later at Christchurch Hospital.
Thirty-four injured victims remained at Christchurch Hospital, where officials said 12 were in critical condition, and a four-yearold girl at a children’s hospital in Auckland was also listed as critical.