"He jumped in the firing line to save somebody else's life," his son said.

An Afghan man, thought to be in his 60s or 70s, died after he reportedly ran into the line of fire to save fellow worshippers at the Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch.

Daoud Nabi had lived in New Zealand for more than 40 years after fleeing Afghanistan as a refugee in the late 1970s, and believed his adopted home to be a "slice of paradise", his son Omar told AFP.

Omar learnt his father had died after trying to shield someone else from a bullet.

"I got told by my best friend's father... that he leaped on somebody else to save their life," he told Stuff.co.nz.

"He jumped in the firing line to save somebody else's life and he has passed away."

Another of Daoud's sons, Yama, was on the way to the mosque - to make up with his father after a small falling out - when he bumped into a friend outside who told him "your father saved my life. Your father saved my life", according to Australian newspaper The Age.

It wasn't until Yama rewatched the gunman's video of the rampage - which he streamed on Facebook Live - and saw his father lying dead on his back that he realised his father did not escape.

"I never thought it would happen in New Zealand. It's a peaceful country," Yama Nabi told AFP, tears welling up in his eyes.

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