Christchurch, New Zealand
The Wider Image: Lives forever changed by Christchurch shootings
Sardar Faisal (2nd L) from Pakistan, a survivor of Christchurch shootings, helps to arrange chairs for a special prayers for the victims of the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, March 31, 2019. On the day of the shootings, Faisal was late to the mosque, an uncharacteristic trait that possibly spared his life. When the gunman burst in and started shooting worshippers at prayer, Faisal was in the bathroom, just about to wash in preparation for prayer and so was able to hide from the gunman. What he saw and heard that day haunts him, he said. He struggles to focus at work and suffers nightmares as deadly scenarios, almost like a video game, run on repeat through his sleep. Faisal now puts every effort in helping the families of victims by cooking and delivering food and running errands for them. "Maybe it's survivor's guilt, maybe it's empathy because whenever I visit the affected families, the only thing I think about is that when I was in that area, they were being shot, the bullets that I heard," he said. REUTERS/Edgar Su SEARCH "SHOOTING SURVIVORS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.