Worshippers recall the moment the mosque shed fell

KARACHI: “I was standing on a side. It happened just as most people went into ruku during the sunnat prayers,” said Syed Waqar Ali, one of the injured being treated in the emergency ward of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital soon after the incident in which five worshippers were killed and eight injured when the makeshift shade for them at the Jamia Masjid Usman collapsed during Juma prayers on Friday.

“I hurt my ribs and foot in the accident,” he said surrounded by friends who rushed him to hospital after the incident. “My family, who know that I pray here as I work in a small factory nearby, called just now to know if I was okay after learning about what happened on television. I informed them I was in hospital but will survive, by the grace of God,” he added.

“Unfortunately, there have also been some deaths. I learned that a father and son also lost their lives. I have been lucky,” he said.

“My five-year-old son, Abdur Rehman, wandered off as the jamaat dispersed after Farz prayers. And I got up to look for him. No sooner had I stepped out of the mosque gates that the shade under which we had been praying fell behind me with a thud,” said Mohammad Dilawar, one of the survivors.

“Spotting my son outside, I picked him up quickly and carried him across the road to put him down on the footpath on the other side with firm orders to stay there while I ran back inside to help others trapped under the debris,” he continued.

“Earlier, I was so mad at my kid for wandering off like that while I prayed, I wanted to give him a tight slap. But now that I think about it I should thank him for saving my life as I only came out early to look for him,” he said.

Najib Khan, another survivor, said that he was buying fruit from a vendor outside when it all happened. “I rushed back inside and helped pull out the people. Those who were directly under the ceiling fans were either dead or unconscious. Some were bleeding from the head,” he said.

“Even after half an hour there was no first responder in sight. Several of the worshippers inside the mosque were rickshaw and taxi drivers who helped us shift the dead and injured to hospital,” he said.

Abid Ali, who helped transport the dead and injured to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, said that Jamia Masjid Usman was an old mosque. “It is around 30 to 35 years old but the shade put up for the worshippers was relatively new. There were bricks lined up on top of it to provide it support. But it just collapsed due to strong gusts of wind bringing down the steel frame, ceiling fans and bricks on worshippers’ heads,” he said.

Asked if he would be going back to the mosque for prayers in the near future, he said that he was going there again for Asr players. “I live right there in H Block of North Nazimabad. This is the best and biggest mosque in the vicinity. InshaAllah, I will be there for Asr and the other prayers that follow,” he said.

“Who can say anything but accept what happened as God’s will. It is no one’s fault, really. Because when putting up the shade, the mosque management was also only thinking about the worshippers and their comfort.”