U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has visited the two New Zealand mosques where 51 worshippers were killed by a gunman in March.

Guterres told reporters outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch on Tuesday that he had no words to relieve the sorrow and pain. He says he wanted to come personally to express his love, support and admiration.

Guterres spend about 30 minutes inside the mosque talking to Muslim leaders and survivors of the attacks.

He then traveled to the Linwood mosque where he laid a wreath and met with survivors including Abdul Aziz, who is considered a hero for chasing the gunman and throwing a credit card machine and a discarded gun at him.

Guterres is visiting several South Pacific countries primarily to highlight the problems of climate change.