CHRISTCHURCH: When the Duke of Cambridge arrived in New Zealand on Thursday he made an unannounced visit to the Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland where he met with one of the youngest victims in the March 15 Christchurch mosques carnage.
Prince William along with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets five-year-old Alen Alsati and her father, Wasseim, who were both injured and are recovering in Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland.
In a touching video released on Thursday evening by Kensington Palace, Alen, who only woke from a coma early this week, confidently asked him questions about his three-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte.
“Do you have a daughter?” Alsati asked William.
“Yeah, she’s called Charlotte,” he replied.
“What’s the name called?”
“Charlotte. She’s about the same age as you.”
“Charlotte,” Alsati murmured quietly.
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Alen sustained numerous critical injuries and has undergone a number of surgeries after she was shot three times at Al Noor mosque. According to her doctors, she also suffered brain damage, and it is not yet known if it will be permanent.
Six weeks to the day from when a self-styled white supremacist killed 50 people and wounded just as many in two Christchurch mosques, the prince said he stood with the people of New Zealand, the people of Christchurch and the Muslim community.
He flew to Christchurch later in the day to meet with police and medical officers who were first to the scene of the carnage, telling them they did “an incredible job on a very bad day.”
"You did an incredible job on a very bad day." — At the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct in Christchurch The Duke of Cambridge thanks first responders to the Christchurch mosques terrorist attack. pic.twitter.com/8OqWZJ7JI4
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 25, 2019
With AFP inputs