Idris Khairudin, 14, had gone to the Al Noor Mosque to perform Friday prayers but instead of praying inside the mosque as usual, he decided to sit in the back rows of the congregation.
While waiting for the prayers to begin, he heard gunshots and sounds of glass breaking as well as calls for the people to run.
“Without hesitation, Idris hurried out the building and climbed over the wall of the mosque, before taking cover for a while and fleeing the scene,” his sister, Nur Balqis Khairudin, 20, told Bernama.
Nur Balqis, a student at Hagley College in Christchurch, said her brother called her to ask what he should do next and she suggested that he head to the college.
“I was in a state of panic and worried about him. My sister, Nur Zahiran, and I were at home and we had no transport. I had to ask help from the public to drop us at the college so that we could get Idris. We then brought him home and called mother,” Nur Balqis said.
Their house is about 3km from the scene.
Idris is a student at Hilmorton High School in Christchurch while Nur Zahiran studies in the same college as her sister.
Their mother, Zarita Abdul Razak, 49, who is in Nibong Tebal, Penang, was relieved when she managed to contact her three children via video call.
Zarita said she had felt restless when she received a WhatsApp message from Nur Balqis, saying “Ma, can I call you?”
“God knows how I felt at the time … my three children were there while we were here. I went weak at the knees. Thankfully, they are safe. But we are still worried and sad to find out that there are Malaysians who have been injured,” she said.
Zarita said her husband, Khairudin Mohamed, 52, a lecturer at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, had just returned to Malaysia at the end of last month after attending to his children’s schooling and other matters.
At least 49 people were killed and dozens more wounded in the terrorist attack.
Australian-born Brenton Tarrant, 28, was charged in court with murder in Christchurch this morning.