Funeral held for Syrian refugee, 9, killed by bus

The parents of a nine-yearold Syrian refugee who was struck and killed by a bus in British Columbia on Friday thought their children were finally safe when they escaped the civil war in their homeland, says a volunteer who has helped the family.

On Saturday, Hala Albarhoum’s grief-stricken father held her little body, wrapped in a shroud, before placing her into her grave during the burial in Chilliwack that was attended by many community members.

“The amount of turmoil they’ve gone through ... we can’t even fathom what it must be like,” said Adnan Bhat, who volunteers with the Abbotsford Islamic Centre.

“They’re trying to gather the strength for the other kids. They are praying a lot for Hala and for the other kids, just for strength to deal with the loss,” said Bhat, who indicated the family has four surviving children.

Several departments are investigating Hala’s death including the major crime unit and B.C. Commercial Vehicle Safety.

B.C. Transit president Manuel Achadinha said in a statement on Friday that he is “extremely saddened” to hear of the girl’s death and the agency’s thoughts are with her family, the driver and others who witnessed the event.

Sgt. Judy Bird of the Abbotsford police said it’s too early to say how fast the bus was travelling.

“At that time of morning, it was still quite dark, as well as our weather conditions were very rainy, so there was some visibility issues. But at this time we are at the very preliminary stages of investigation.”

Bhat said the family came to Abbotsford more than a year ago as government-sponsored refugees.