Five-year-old girl dies in injured father's arms after New Zealand mosque attacks

The youngster, aged around five, was seen being "nursed" by her father.

(Web Desk) - A witness while recalling the dreadful attack on New Zewaland’s mosques told that a five-year-old girl died in her injured father’s arms after both were shot at Al Noor.

The youngster, aged around five, was seen being "nursed" by her father on a path outside the mosque, according to the witness.

Carl Pomare, who came across the scene, described her as "critical", saying he knew she would die if she wasn’t taken to hospital immediately.

"One girl looked about 5 years old, she was critical, and her father had also been shot," the tradesman told Newstalk ZB .

"He was nursing her. We were just thinking, ‘Come on ambulance, come on’."

Mr Pomare, who had been driving past the massacre scene at the time, told Radio New Zealand he saw “people running for their lives”. He also heard terrifying gunfire that sounded like fireworks going off.

"We saw these people hit the ground," he said. "They were being shot in front of us."

Outside the mosque, around six or seven bodies were lying on a footpath. The victims included the unnamed little girl.

While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Mr Pomare and other Good Samaritans decided time was running out to save the child.

Determined not to let her die, they lifted her into the back of a vehicle with her wounded father, before it sped off to hospital. The tradesman described the youngster as "not in a good way".

“We looked at it thinking we’ve got to get this little girl to the hospital now otherwise she’s going to die," he recalled.

The girl’s condition is unclear.

Courageous Mr Pomare, of Naki Labour Hire, and fellow workers stayed at the scene for more than an hour. They did so even as the shooter remained at large. 

Charged with murder

A right-wing extremist who filmed himself on a shooting rampage that left 49 mosque-goers dead flashed a white power gesture as he appeared in a New Zealand court Saturday charged with murder.

Australian-born 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant stood in the dock wearing handcuffs and a white prison smock, as the judge read a single murder charge against him. A raft of further charges are expected.

The former fitness instructor and self-professed fascist occasionally turned to look at media present in court during the brief hearing that the public were excluded from for security reasons.

Flanked by armed police he made an upside-down "okay" signal, a symbol used by white power groups across the globe. He did not request bail and was taken into custody until his next court appearance which is scheduled for April 5.

A short distance from the court, 39 people were being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds and other injuries inflicted in the massacre.

The wounded included a two-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl, who was in critical condition.

Doctors at Christchurch hospital said they worked through the night in 12 operating theatres to treat the survivors.

The attack on the Al Noor and Linwood mosques has been labelled terrorism by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and is thought to be the deadliest attack directed against Muslims in the West in modern times.

--- with inputs from AFP.