HALIFAX— All seven children in a Syrian refugee family who arrived in Halifax a year and a half ago have died in a tragic house fire in the suburb of Spryfield.Loai Al Rifai, spokesperson with Nova Scotia Syrian Society, confirmed the father’s name is Ebraheim Barho. “This has really been a tragedy for all the people, not (just) for our community, for all the Canadians here in Halifax,” Al Rifai said in an interview Tuesday.A Facebook page for the Kearney Lake mosque said Barho was in surgery and his wife, who has not been identified, is “OK, but emotionally broken.” The parents are in the QEII hospital in Halifax.Another Facebook post from the Ummah Mosque and Community Centre in Halifax indentified the dead children as Abdullah, 4 months, Rana, 3, Hala, 4, Ghala, 8, Mohammed, 10, Rola, 12, and Ahmed, 15. Pictures posted to the site show a newborn baby swaddled what looks like a hospital blanket, as well as two school-aged children with backpacks on, smiling on a sidewalk. In a brief interview from the hospital, Imam Abdallah Yousri of the Ummah Mosque said the family was originally from Raqqa, Syria, and initially settled in Elmsdale, north of Halifax. He said the funerals would likely be held at Ummah on Wednesday.Halifax Regional Police and Halifax Fire and Emergency were called to the blaze on Quartz Dr. in the Halifax suburb of Spryfield at about 1 a.m. Tuesday.“This is the largest loss of life in a fire in Halifax in a very long time,” the fire service said in a Twitter post. “A very sad morning.”The Barho family was profiled in the Enfield Weekly Press when they arrived on Sept. 29, 2017 with the help of sponsors the Hants East Assisting Refugee Team (HEART) Society. A video of the family shows a large crowd cheering and holding up signs in welcome for the six children and two parents in the Halifax airport arrivals area.“Everyone feels this. That subdivision, Spryfield, HRM as a whole, ...
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