Transplanted from their war-ravaged homeland, a London family was dealt a bittersweet blow Tuesday.

Their home, a public housing townhouse, was destroyed by an early-morning fire that authorities say appears suspicious.

But the family escaped the worst — not because they’d fled during the night, as their neighbours sharing a wall did after the flames broke out, but because they were back in Syria.

Why?

Because, said a neighbour who didn’t want to be identified, the mother and four children — ages five, seven, 10 and 11 — are trying to bring back another child.

That, in a country turned upside-down by five years of war, with half its population displaced and millions turned into refugees at home and abroad,

The family had reportedly left for Syria last Tuesday, a week before the fire ripped through the townhouse at 402 Boulee St.

In the aftermath, neighbours and the London Middlesex Housing Corp., which owns the building, were trying to reach the family that doesn’t know the home they moved into two years ago is now gutted.

Deng Kong was sleeping next door when he heard someone pounding at the door in the middle of the night.

Assuming it was a neighbour in need of help, Kong and his wife Nyaluok went downstairs to answer the door.

That’s when a frantic neighbour alerted them to the fire in the next unit.

Kong, 40, and his wife, 33, sprung into action, waking their five young children and hustling them outside.

“They got scared. Some of them ran out naked,” Kong said of his children, ages three months to 12 years old.

Nyaluok added: “And we ran out with no shoes.”

The frightened family got outside and saw smoke pouring from next door, where the Syrian woman and her young children live.

Officials say nobody was in the apartment at the time of the blaze.

The woman and her kids — three boys and one girl — moved in during 2014, said the neighbour, adding she was trying to contact the woman to let her know about the blaze.

It’s unknown whether the family arrived in Canada as regular immigrants or came as refugees — more than 35,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in the past year, after Canada accelerated its bid to help those affected by one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Firefighters were called to the address at 1:24 a.m.

As investigators probed the aftermath Tuesday, a single police cruiser was parked outside the two-storey townhouse.

“The scene is being held pending further investigation by our criminal investigation division along with the fire prevention inspector,” said Const. Sandasha Bough.

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is also investigating the blaze, the loss put at $120,000.

Neighbours set up a Facebook page to collect clothing, toiletries, toys, gift cards and other items for the displaced family.

The incident rattled some residents in the geared-to-income housing complex.

“I’m just worried that that could happen to me,” said Samantha Murphy, who lives across from the gutted unit.

Kong and his family spent a sleepless night at a neighbour’s unit, but were back in their home later Tuesday morning.

The smell of smoke served as a reminder of the close call.

“It’s very scary,” he said.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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