7 young Syrian refugee siblings die in Halifax, Nova Scotia house fire
February 20, 2019 10:13 AM Subscribe
The youngest victim, Abdullah, was 4 months old and the oldest, Ahmed, was 15 years old, the mosque said. The others were Rana, 3; Hala, 4; Ghala, 8; Mohammed, 10; and Rola, 12. “They are from Raqqa, which is one of the worst affected areas in Syria,” said Abdallah Yousri, an imam at Ummah Masjid and Community Center, a mosque the family attended. “They fled from there to be burned over here. It is unbelievable.”
“Words fail when children are taken from us too soon, especially in circumstances like this. My heart goes out to the survivors of the horrible fire in Halifax this morning, and the loved ones who are mourning this tremendous loss.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.The family was sponsored to come to Canada in 2017 by a group called the Hants East Assisting Refugee Team Society, or HEART. The Enfield Weekly Press shared a video of the group welcoming the family when they arrived at the Halifax airport. The family allegedly had plans of moving out of their current Spryfield home to a larger place in Elmsdale (40 minutes away) at the end of the month. While the Halifax fire investigation could take months to complete, officials would not speculate on the cause of the fire and said there is so far no evidence of suspicious activity.
“Because many friends are willing to donate any money that goes toward the family afterwards, it was decided to proceed with a go fund me campaign.” — Imam Abdallah Hussein, Ummah Masjid And Community CenterA memorial can be seen outside the family's home, where neighbours held an impromptu vigil Tuesday night to support the family.” A community gathering is being planned for Halifax's Grand Parade this evening.
“They had no close family members here and the woman loses her children and her husband is in critical condition. Obviously they need as much support as they can get and we are trying to provide it.” — Ibrahim Manna, a spokesman for the mosque
This post was deleted for the following reason: Sorry, this is absolutely awful, but "horrible thing happens" doesn't necessarily make for a good Mefi post, plus we ask folks to avoid posting open fundraisers in FPPs. -- LobsterMitten
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