Christchurch victim's mother dies of heart attack day after son's funeral as she struggled to cope with grief
One of the Christchurch mosque attack's victims' mother has died of a heart attack, just hours after her son's funeral, according to reports.
The woman, identified as Saud Abdelfattah Mhaisen Adwan, reportedly died after struggling to cope with the grief of losing her son Kamel Darwish in New Zealand's worst terror attack.
The shootings at Al Noor and Linwood mosques on March 15 left 50 people dead and dozens injured. The attacker was identified as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian white supremacist, who is currently in police custody.
Reports state that 38-year-old Darwish moved to Christchurch from Jordan six months ago and was awaiting the arrival of his wife and three children.
Darwish, a dairy farmer, had been convinced to make a move to New Zealand by his brother, who had been living in the country since 2007 and had told him that it was a "safe place to raise a family," according to the Daily Mail.
Darwish, however, was shot dead before his family could even move to the country. He was laid to rest on Friday last week, however, his mother suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away during the night, an official from the Jordanian Embassy in Sydney said.
Darwish's mother, who already had a heart condition, arrived in New Zealand from Jordan on Thursday with his wife Rana and their children for the 38-year-old's funeral procession at the Memorial Park Cemetry on Linwood.
Reports state that the family found the 65-year-old grandmother dead on Saturday morning. According to family friend Yaser Mohammad, Adwan died because she could not bear the sadness of losing her son.
Mohammad, while talking to New Zealand Herald, said: "She came yesterday to attend the funeral. Apparently this morning [Saturday] she passed away because she couldn't put up with the sorrow and sadness of losing her son. They are arranging to take the coffin back to Jordan."
Adwan is one of the many relatives of the victims shot in the massacre who suffered a heart attacks just days after the deadly shooting. Reports state that the wife of Mohsin Al-Harbi — the 50th victim who succumbed to his gunshot wounds — was so distressed as she searched for him on the day of the incident that she had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital.
She is currently in a critical condition, fighting for her life.
Another victim of the shooting, Sazada Akhter, was seriously injured after being shot twice at the Al Noor mosque and may have to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Akhter's mother was in Bangladesh when she received the news and had a heart attack shortly after.