Child survivors of Grenfell disaster who lost loved ones in inferno say ‘it could have been me’
CHILDREN who survived the Grenfell Tower blaze seven years ago have spoken about how the tragedy affected them.
The final report into the disaster, which killed 72 people including 18 children, has now been released by the Grenfell Inquiry.
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Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the chair of the inquiry, spoke in central London after the release of his final report.
He said: “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.
“Those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants.”
Ahead of the release of the final report, children who survived the fire seven years ago have revealed the impact it had on them.
Luana Gomes, now 19, was 12 at the time of the blaze and managed to escape with her pregnant mother and sister, but they were in a coma for weeks, Sky News reports.
Her baby brother, Logan, was stillborn. He was the youngest victim of the blaze.
Luana says her friends Mehdi would knock on her door and was frightened of her dog.
The eight-year-old boy died in the fire along with his parents, brother and sister.
Luana said: “I feel a bit guilty. When you think about your friends and family members and neighbours – I feel guilty that I’m here living and doing all this stuff, and they didn’t get the chance to live and do the stuff they wanted to at such a young age.”
She recalled how she missed weeks of school due to being in hospital, and has suffered from anxiety and depression over the last seven years.
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Abem, 12, was just four years old at the time of the blaze.
He was rushed out of the building by his parents, and recalls staying at a friend’s home that evening and looking out of the window.
He said: “I see a tall building block engulfed in flames. I don’t know what it was. And then later I realised that it was my own home.”
The child added: “It could have been me.”
Abem lost his best friend, five-year-old Isaac Paulos, in the blaze.
Ines Alves, now 23, was a 16-year-old GCSE pupil at the time of the fire.
She grabbed her textbooks as her family fled the blaze, before having to sit her GCSE chemistry exam the following morning.
She has spent much of the last seven years trying to escape the title ‘Grenfell Girl’, which people would call her in the days following the disaster.
Yousra Cherbika, 19, remembers watching the tower burn at just 12 years old while calling her friend Nur Huda to “get out”.
Nur’s whole family died in the fire.
Full list of victims
- Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Ibrahim and Isra Ibrahim (floor 23)
- Mohammed Amied Neda (floor 23)
- Hesham Rahman (floor 23)
- Rania Ibrahim and her two children Fethia Hassan, four, and three-year-old Hania Hassan (floor 23)
- Marco Gottardi (floor 23)
- Gloria Trevisan (floor 23)
- Raymond “Moses” Bernard (floor 23)
- Eslah and Mariem Elgwahry (floor 22)
- Anthony Disson (floor 22)
- Choucair family (floor 22)
- Nadia Choucair, 33, her husband Bassem Choukair, 40, their three children Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and Zainab, three, died along with their grandmother Sirria Choucair, 60.
- The Kedir family (floor 22)
- Hashim Kedir, 44, died with his wife Nura Jemal, 35, daughter Firdaws Hashim, 12, and sons Yahya Hashim, 13, and Yaqub Hashim, six.
- The El-Wahabi family (floor 21)
- Father Abdulaziz, 52, wife Faouzia, 41, and children Yasin, 20, Nur Huda, 16, and Mehdi, eight, all died.
- Ligaya Moore (floor 21)
- Jessica Urbano Ramirez (floor 20)
- The Belkadi family (floor 20)
- Farah Hamdan, 31, her husband Omar Belkadi, 32, and children Malak Belkadi, eight, and six-month-old Leena Belkadi, all died.
- Mary Mendy (floor 20)
- Khadija Saye (floor 20)
- Victoria King and Alexandra Atala (floor 20)
- Tuccu-Ahmedin family (floor 19)
- Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, his wife Amal Ahmedin, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, all died. Amna Mahmud Idris, 27, was visiting her cousin Ms Ahmedin at the time of the fire and also died.
- Marjorie Vital and Ernie Vital (floor 19)
- Debbie Lamprell (floor 19)
- Gary Maunders (floor 19)
- Berkti Haftom and Biruk Haftom (floor 18)
- Hamid Kani (floor 18)
- Isaac Paulos (floor 18)
- Sakina Afrasehabi (floor 18)
- Fatemeh Afrasiabi (visiting her sister on 18th floor)
- Vincent Chiejina (floor 17)
- Khadija Khalloufi (floor 17)
- Miah-Begum family (floor 17)
- Kamru Miah, 79, Rabeya Begum, 64, Mohammed Hamid, 28, Mohammed Hanif, 26 and Husna Begum, 22.
- Joseph Daniels (floor 16)
- Sheila (floor 16)
- Steve Power (floor 15)
- Zainab Deen and Jeremiah Deen (floor 14)
- Mohammad al-Haj Ali (floor 14)
- Denis Murphy (floor 14)
- Ali Yawar Jafari (floor 11)
- Abdeslam Sebbar (floor 11)
- Logan Gomes (floor 21)
- Maria del Pilar Burton (floor 19)
Bereaved and survivors of the fire have said the inquiry’s final damning report shows they were “failed by calculated dishonesty and greed”.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were “little better than crooks and killers”.
They criticised previous governments who they said “aided corporations, facilitating them to profit and dictate regulation” and called on some of the firms involved to be banned from government contracts.
Their statement also said that while the report is a “significant chapter” in the years since the fire, “justice has not been delivered” as they restated their call for police and prosecutors to “ensure that those who are truly responsible are held to account and brought to justice”.
After the final report was published, Grenfell United said: “Today marks the conclusion of a painful six years listening to the evidence of the deaths of 54 adults and 18 children, our loved ones, neighbours and friends.
“It is a significant chapter in the journey to truth, justice and change. But justice has not been delivered.
“The inquiry report reveals that whenever there’s a clash between corporate interest and public safety, governments have done everything they can to avoid their responsibilities to keep people safe. The system isn’t broken, it was built this way.
“It speaks to a lack of competence, understanding and a fundamental failure to perform the most basic of duties of care.”
The group’s statement said previous governments had created “voids” by outsourcing their duties to corporate bodies – who “filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials”.
Their statement continued: “The recommendations published today are basic safety principles that should already exist, highlighting how the government’s roles, duties and obligations have been hollowed out by privatisation.
“Where voids were created as the government outsourced their duties, Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic filled the gaps with substandard and combustible materials.
“They were allowed to manipulate the testing regimes, fraudulently and knowingly marketing their products as safe.
“Sir Martin Moore-Bick has laid bare his mistrust in the building industry – no single publication like approved document B should subsequently be used as a means to regulate fire safety and to keep the public safe.
“The government knew this was no way to regulate. It was there to be exploited.
“Our lawyers told the inquiry that the corporate core participants – Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex – were little better than crooks and killers.
“The report makes clear that this statement is entirely true. We were failed in most cases by incompetence and in many cases by calculated dishonesty and greed.”
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