This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/it-spread-so-quickly-london-fire-witness-accounts
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| 'A woman wanted someone to catch her baby': London fire witness accounts | 'A woman wanted someone to catch her baby': London fire witness accounts |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| As the fire continued to rage, stories emerged of the terror experienced by Grenfell Tower residents as the block was engulfed by flames and of how others tried desperately to help those trapped inside: | |
| Samira Lamrani, 38 | Samira Lamrani, 38 |
| People were starting to appear at the windows, frantically banging and screaming. The windows were slightly ajar, a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby. Somebody did, a gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby. | People were starting to appear at the windows, frantically banging and screaming. The windows were slightly ajar, a woman was gesturing that she was about to throw her baby and if somebody could catch her baby. Somebody did, a gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby. |
| My daughter’s friend said she observed an adult who made some sort of homemade parachute and tried to lower himself out of the window … floor upon floor, [there were] endless numbers of people. The kids … with their high-pitched voices – that will remain with me for a long time. | |
| Joe Walsh, 58: | |
| I saw … [a] parent throw two kids out of the window. I don’t know where they landed because I was on the other side. I doubt anyone caught them, I hope they did. It wasn’t that high up – it would have been the fifth or sixth floor up. There were still people screaming at quarter to four this morning. | |
| Isabel Afonso, 22 | Isabel Afonso, 22 |
| There were people in the tower sitting on the windows, saying: ‘I’m going to jump down,’ and people yelling at them: ‘Don’t jump, they are coming.’ This is like 1.30am and I didn’t see anyone being evacuated. | |
| A lot of neighbours were trying to help. Some of the apartments have access by a kind of bridge to our building so people were helping people over the gate between them. Some people were helping a family of four people with a baby. | A lot of neighbours were trying to help. Some of the apartments have access by a kind of bridge to our building so people were helping people over the gate between them. Some people were helping a family of four people with a baby. |
| Line Sterring, 23 | Line Sterring, 23 |
| We could see people waving fairy lights and flags to show their position. At first people seemed calm, but then you could see smoke coming out of the windows. When they saw the smoke they started panicking. | |
| We saw people in the second top window of the tower. There were four people screaming and shouting and then the window went completely dark from the smoke and that part of the building was covered in flames. | We saw people in the second top window of the tower. There were four people screaming and shouting and then the window went completely dark from the smoke and that part of the building was covered in flames. |
| The worst thing was seeing people stuck and you feel so useless. You are just watching people probably dying and the feeling of not doing anything, you just can’t do anything ... | The worst thing was seeing people stuck and you feel so useless. You are just watching people probably dying and the feeling of not doing anything, you just can’t do anything ... |
| Line Sterring (R) lives next door to #GrenfellTower. "We saw people screaming from the window then it went dark from the smoke". pic.twitter.com/iHKrpcXx05 | Line Sterring (R) lives next door to #GrenfellTower. "We saw people screaming from the window then it went dark from the smoke". pic.twitter.com/iHKrpcXx05 |
| Tamara, to BBC News | Tamara, to BBC News |
| We could hear people screaming: ‘Help me,’ so me and my brother, with some other people who live in the area, ran over to the estate to where you could still get underneath it and there were people just throwing their kids out saying: ‘Save my children.’ | We could hear people screaming: ‘Help me,’ so me and my brother, with some other people who live in the area, ran over to the estate to where you could still get underneath it and there were people just throwing their kids out saying: ‘Save my children.’ |
| The fire crew, ambulance and police couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t get in, and they were just telling them to stay where they are, and we’ll come and get you. | The fire crew, ambulance and police couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t get in, and they were just telling them to stay where they are, and we’ll come and get you. |
| But things quickly escalated beyond measure and they couldn’t go back in and get them. Within another 15 minutes the whole thing was up in flames and there were still people at their windows shouting ‘Help me’. | But things quickly escalated beyond measure and they couldn’t go back in and get them. Within another 15 minutes the whole thing was up in flames and there were still people at their windows shouting ‘Help me’. |
| You could see the fire going into their houses and engulfing the last room that they were in. | You could see the fire going into their houses and engulfing the last room that they were in. |
| Amanda Fernandez, 31: | |
| We were just watching thinking ‘someone is going to stop it soon’. There’s been fires in that tower before, but it’s never escalated like that. There are these new panels on it, I don’t know what they were made of but it smelt like plastic. | |
| When [the fire] got outside [the building] it was literally so rapid, like when hair catches fire. First one side went, then another. Then you are just counting the floors, you can see people hanging out of the windows. And the screams, the constant screams. | |
| Saimir Iieshi, 39: | |
| I didn’t want them [my sons] to see what I saw. I said there had been a fire but the police had evacuated everybody. I tried to protect them but they could hear the people. | |
| I could hear people shouting: ‘Please, I have got kids, please save my kids.’ It makes you feel useless. You hear that, you have children and it makes you feel so weak, it makes you feel like nothing. | |
| I hope they [my sons] will forget what they heard. But me, I will never forget. | |
| Paul Littlejohn, to BBC News | Paul Littlejohn, to BBC News |
| [There was] just fire coming out of every window, windows smashing and exploding. Things falling out, people screaming, people jumping out on fire, chucking ropes down what they’d made out of bedsheets, to try and climb out. Just complete nightmare, absolute nightmare. | [There was] just fire coming out of every window, windows smashing and exploding. Things falling out, people screaming, people jumping out on fire, chucking ropes down what they’d made out of bedsheets, to try and climb out. Just complete nightmare, absolute nightmare. |
| Mahmoud, 25 | Mahmoud, 25 |
| I spoke to my friend [Mohammed] at about 3.30am. He was saying: ‘Help me.’ My friend who escaped [Omar] went to one flat and he [Mohammed] went to another. They lost each other. I have been friends with them since I was six years old, I don’t know what to do. I am waiting. I hope he is alive. | I spoke to my friend [Mohammed] at about 3.30am. He was saying: ‘Help me.’ My friend who escaped [Omar] went to one flat and he [Mohammed] went to another. They lost each other. I have been friends with them since I was six years old, I don’t know what to do. I am waiting. I hope he is alive. |
| I last spoke to [Mohammed] at 3.30am. He was saying: ‘Please help me, please tell my family I love them.’ He sounded very scared. | I last spoke to [Mohammed] at 3.30am. He was saying: ‘Please help me, please tell my family I love them.’ He sounded very scared. |
| Paul Mennacer to BBC News | |
| The black smoke ... was coming at me ... I was only wearing a T-shirt. I had to take the shirt off to cover my mouth and my nose and as I was going down the stairs there were firefighters, truly amazing firefighters, going up the stairs to the fire, trying to get as many people [as possible] out of the building. | |
| Jody Martin, to BBC News | Jody Martin, to BBC News |
| I grabbed an axe from the fire truck, it looked like there was a bit of confusion about what to do. I ran around the building looking for a fire escape and couldn’t see any noticeable fire escapes around the building. A lot of debris falling down. | I grabbed an axe from the fire truck, it looked like there was a bit of confusion about what to do. I ran around the building looking for a fire escape and couldn’t see any noticeable fire escapes around the building. A lot of debris falling down. |
| I eventually gained entry on to the second floor, and once I got to the corridor I realised there was so much smoke there. I watched one person falling out, I watched another woman holding her baby out the window … hearing screams, I was yelling everyone to get down and they were saying, ‘We can’t leave our apartments, the smoke is too bad on the corridors.’ | |
| Taz: | |
| I heard screaming and shouting and looked out of my window. You could see kids waving from the windows. You could hear, ‘Mummy, daddy.” … I just ran down the street. The police were telling us the block’s going to collapse. | |
| People were crying outside for their family. It wasn’t a good sight to see. | |
| Mickey Paramasivan to BBC News | Mickey Paramasivan to BBC News |
| People were banging on the windows, screaming, ‘Get us out, get us out’. Windows were blowing up. It was like a horror movie, I’m still shaking now. | |
| David Benjamin to BBC News | David Benjamin to BBC News |
| There was smoke everywhere, literally everywhere, there was people downstairs, there was bits of the block, cladding falling off the block, that was on fire, people screaming. | |
| Muna Ali, 45 | Muna Ali, 45 |
| The flames, I have never seen anything like it, it just reminded me of 9/11. The fire started on the upper floors … oh my goodness, it spread so quickly, it had completely spread within half an hour. |