Turkish citizen hurt in Christchurch attacks dies, NZ death toll at 51: Minister

Turkish citizen hurt in Christchurch attacks dies, NZ death toll at 51: Minister

People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of Christchurch Botani
FILE PHOTO: People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of Christchurch Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

ANKARA: A Turkish citizen who was wounded during deadly attacks at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15 has died, Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday (May 2), raising the death toll from the shooting to 51.

"We have unfortunately lost our citizen Zekeriya Tuyan, who was critically wounded in the heinous attack in Christchurch, New Zealand," Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

Tuyan's brother told Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency that Tuyan had been taken to surgery on Thursday, but that he could not be saved.

"He had surgery today, they couldn't stop the bleeding so we lost him. We were happy because we thought it was going well, he had been battling for 50 days," Yahya Tuyan said, according to Anadolu.

READ: Probe shows Sri Lanka attacks 'retaliation for Christchurch': Deputy defence minister

Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist from Australia, has been charged with 50 counts of murder for New Zealand's worst peacetime mass shooting. Fifty other people were injured in the attacks, which occurred during Friday prayers.

Source: Reuters/aa

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