New Zealand mosque shootings: Families of Christchurch dead in agonizing wait for burials

Hundreds of flowers were piled up amid candles, balloons and notes of grief and love outside the Al Noor mosque and the city's botanic gardens.

Families of the 50 people killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings are enduring an increasingly agonizing wait for the bodies of victims to be released as New Zealand reels from the unprecedented tragedy.

Three days after Friday’s attack, New Zealand’s deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be cleansed and buried as soon as possible after death, usually within 24 hours.

Aya Al-Umari, whose older brother Hussien Al-Umari died at the Al Noor mosque, wept as she talked about a kind man, a quintessential big brother who delighted in teasing his little sister.

On Monday, the family was still waiting for the release of Hussein’s body. They have tried to be patient, and understand that police have a job to do, but they are growing weary of the lack of information. “It’s very unsettling not knowing what’s going on, if you just let me know is he still in the mosque? Is he in a fridge? Where is he?” Aya said. “I understand the police need to do their job because it’s a crime scene, but you need to communicate with the families.”

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Forty nine people killed in NZ shootings: police

At least 49 people were killed in shootings across two mosques in New Zealand on Friday, according to police, in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said was a terrorist attack.