In the wake of New Zealand’s most deadly shooting in history, survivors have recalled how a young mosque worker wrestled the gun from the hands of the shooter and prevented more people being shot.

Witnesses said the man risked his life to confront the gunman and managed to pull the weapon from his hands, forcing the attacker to flee.

Survivor Faisal Sayed told India’s NDTV he was in the Linwood Mosque when the gunman entered.

“We were in a small mosque – measuring about a hundred square metres – and when you have a gunman coming in and opening fire in such circumstances, your heart beats faster and you can’t feel anything,” he said.

“But a friend and I witnessed this gentleman creep up behind the shooter and hold him until his gun dropped.”

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Mr Sayed said he didn’t know who the man was, but that his heroic action left the shooter with no choice but to run for the door of the mosque.

“If that hadn’t happened, many more would have died and I wouldn’t be here now. Hats off to that man. I will definitely try to look him up,” he said.

Another survivor, Syed Mazharuddin, also praised the man who tackled the gunman, describing him as a “hero”, and saying he had taken the gun from the shooter’s hands and chased him out of the mosque.

Speaking to the New Zealand Herald he said: “People were screaming and seeing that I also tried to take cover. This guy came into the main entrance door aisle. It’s a small mosque, there are around 60, 70 people there. Just round the entrance door there were old people sitting on the chairs and praying, and he started shooting at them.

“There was this one young guy who usually takes care of the mosque and helps with parking and other stuff, and he saw an opportunity and pounced over to him and grabbed his gun from his hands.”

Describing the shooter, Mr Mazharuddin said: “He was completely [covered] with body armour, he had a helmet, he had a waistcoat and a backpack and was shooting indiscriminately. There was a lady screaming ‘help, help’, and he shot her point-blank in her face.

“At this point this guy pounced and snatched at his gun and [so the gunman] threw down his many guns and ran. The hero tried to chase but he couldn’t find the trigger … he ran behind him, but there were people waiting for him in the car and he fled.”