‘It doesn’t open’: Mosque survivors describe terror at door
Posted March 27, 2019 9:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WELLNGTON, New Zealand — When the gunman attacked the mosque in New Zealand, Ahmed Alayedy scrambled to get to the nearest emergency exit. He was the first one there.
He says he tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
Alayedy and other survivors of the March 15 attacks described to The Associated Press confusion and terror at the door on one side of the main prayer room, in the first accounts of the role the door played.
Alayedy said so many people began crushing him against the door that some of his ribs cracked.
Investigators are likely to examine a new electric locking system installed just days before the attack. The mosque says an electrician disabled it the day before the attack, although some survivors question whether that was the case.
Nick Perry, The Associated Press
