The hearings sought to satisfy the coroner’s investigative demands, but turned the spotlight of an often highly technical investigation back on the sheer brutality inflicted on a community still waiting for justice. Trapped, suffocated, panicked and desperate, most died from “inhalation of fire fumes”, coroners concluded, as the flammable cladding, made by companies aware of the dangers, ignited. Most died on the highest floors in horrific conditions. A large group gathered from the smoke in top-floor apartment 201, the one-bedroom home of Raymond “Moses” Bernard, 63, a member of the Windrush generation from Trinidad, and his dog Marley. Debbie Lamprell, 45, who worked at Opera Holland Park, was among downstairs neighbors forced upstairs by the thick smoke. They were football-mad Biruk Haftom, 12, his mother Berkti Haftom, 29, who had escaped the Eritrean civil war, and Hamid Kani, 61, an Iranian actor who came to Britain in the 1970s . Biruk and his mother died close to each other. She was three months pregnant. Also there were Sudanese-born Amal Ahmedin, 35, her three-year-old daughter, Amaya Tuccu Ahmedin, and cousin Amna Idris, 27. Dozens of people escaped falling under the smoke, but Amal and her family were among them who were motivated to Go back. Amal and Amaya collapsed just outside the apartment. Lamprell’s remains were found near those of Bernard and Idris. From top left: Raymond ‘Moses’ Bernard, Biruk Haftom, Berkti Haftom and Hamid Kani. Bottom: Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuccu Ahmedin, Jessica Urbano Ramirez and Gary Maunders. Composites: Brochures With them was 12-year-old Jessica Urbano Ramirez, from apartment 176 on the 20th floor. Her mother and sister were outside when the fire broke out and she went upstairs, possibly following adults thinking they couldn’t make it up the stairs. Firefighters tried to get to Jessica’s apartment, but she was already gone. Her remains were found in Bernard’s bedroom. Lamprell was with her boyfriend Gary Mounders, 57, but they broke up. She stayed in apartment 203 with Rania Ibrahim, an Egyptian, and her daughters Fethia, four, and Hania, three. Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanusi, 77, a retired teacher originally from Sudan, and her son Abufras Mohamed Ibrahim, 39, and daughter Isra Ibrahim, 33, were there. Rania broadcast a video feed on Facebook that revealed the smoky chaos of the lobbies that prevented escape attempts. “The whole building is on fire and we’re on the top floor,” he was heard saying. At 2.42am, long after the inquest found the ‘stay put’ strategy should have been reversed, a fire service dispatcher said: “The safest place for you right now is the apartment.” The rest suggest that the adult women had formed a cordon around the children. From top left: Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan, Hania Hassan and Mariem Elgwahry. Bottom: Sakina Afrasehabi, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Hesham Rahman and Ernie Vital Composite: Handouts Gasping for air, the residents moved closer to the windows. Aboufras fell from the tower at 3.50am, hitting the dome of the building’s entrance. Paulos Tekle, the father of five-year-old Issac Paulos, thought of jumping with his son to stop himself from burning. He thought that his body can slow down Issac’s fall. The family escaped the apartment, but Issac got lost on the road and died. Mohammad Neda, 57, a driver from Kabul, fell to his death from his top-floor apartment where he had chosen to stay with a group of women who had been excluded because two of them – Eslah Elgwahry, 64, and Sakina Afrasehabi, 65 – were disabled. Eslah’s daughter Mariem Elgwahry, 27, and Sakina’s younger sister Fatemeh Afrasiabi, 59, were also there. They all died. Hesham Rahman, 57, of flat 204 was another of the 15 disabled residents who died. Many had told the council about their homelessness and needed downstairs flats. Dominica-born Marjorie Vital, 68, and her son Ernie Vital, 50, took refuge in the top-floor home of Gloria Trevisan, 26, and Marco Gottardi, 27, Italian architects. At 1.34 am Trevisan called her mother in Italy and said thick, black smoke was filling the lobby. “I can’t get out,” he said in one call. “I don’t believe it ends like this. I don’t want to believe it. I can’t see anything outside. My eyes are burning. I cant breathe.” Trevisan’s gold heart locket was recovered from her remains found next to Gottardi and returned to her family. From top left: Gloria Trevisan, Marco Gottardi, Rabeya Begum and Husna Begum. Bottom: Nadia Choucair, Mierna Choucair, Fatima Choucair and Zainab Choucair. Composites: Brochures Kamru Miah, 79, was in poor health, so his upstairs apartment was not ideal. He lived with his wife, Rabeya Begum, 64, from Bangladesh, and their children Mohammed Hamid, 28, Mohammed Hanif, 26, and Husna Begum, 22. A 999 operator told the family: “Someone is coming to help you.” But as the fire entered the pitch-black apartment, no one came. Kamru recited from the Qur’an. Husna called her brother Hakim. “Please forgive me if I ever hurt you,” she told him, “but I don’t think we’re going to make it.” On the 11th floor, Abdeslam Sebbar, 77, who walked with a stick, died in his bathroom. The El-Wahabi family – Abdulaziz, 52, a hospital porter, his wife Faouzia, 42, and children Yasin, 20, Nur Huda, 15 and Mehdi, eight – were urged by a 999 operator to take refuge in a bedroom as fire broke out in the living room and kitchen in their 21st floor apartment. In one of several calls to 999, Abdulaziz said: “I could have got out a long time ago but they said stay in the flat, stay in the flat. We didn’t leave.” No firefighters made it to the 21st floor to knock on the doors. The family died lying near a bedroom. A police helicopter circled the tower giving false hope of rescue to people, including Nadia Choucair, 34, one of six members of the Choucair family who died in apartment 193 on the 22nd floor. “Can the helicopter pick us up please?” pleaded in a 999 call at 2.37am. as the smoke became heavy. An operator told her husband, Bassem Choukair, 40, that there was no helicopter and to leave. They tried but failed. They died along with their children Mierna, 13, Fatima, 11, and Zainab, three, and Nadia’s mother, Sirria Choucair, 60. Neighbors Hashim Kedir, 44, a black cab driver, his wife Nura Jemal, 35, both born in Ethiopia, and their three children Yahya Hashim, 13, Firdaws Hashim, 12 and Yaqub Hashim, six, also died in the flat. . and a “pure ball of energy.” In a neighboring flat was Tony Disson, 65, born in North Kensington and described as “old school”. He had mobility issues and saw the plastic window melt as the fire surrounded his apartment. He told his son Alfie “they’re not coming” so he tried to get out. His body was recovered in the 18th floor stairwell. No rescuers were deployed to floor 22 as of 3.03am. From top left: Hashim Kedir, Nura Jemal, Yahya Hashim and Firdaws Hashim. Bottom: Yaqub Hashim, Tony Disson, Ligaya Moore and Alexandra Atala. Composites: Brochures Some people left little traces in their final moments. Ligaya Moore, 78, a widow born in the Philippines, did not make any emergency calls or answer the phone to friends. She had accumulated such a “mountain” of assets that it was difficult for her to even get out of bed. It is possible that he slept through the disaster. Vicky King, 71, and her daughter Alexandra Atala, 40, were seen by neighbors as “reclusive and confined to the house”. Their apartment was “almost bare”. Vincent Chiejina, a 60-year-old with schizophrenia, did not call and died in his living room. There were many desperate attempts to escape up the infernal, smoke-clogged stairs. Khadija Saye, 24, a talented artist whose work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale, made it from the 20th floor to the 10th floor, where her body was found. Her mother, Mary Mendy, 54, made it as far as 13 before ending her journey. Firefighters tried to get Farah Hamdan, 31, her husband, Omar Belkadi, 32, their daughter Malak Belkadi, eight, another daughter, six, and baby Leena Belkadi to safety. Two of them took turns carrying the six-year-old into the chaos and darkness and brought her out alive. Omar collapsed almost immediately on the stairs. His body was found along with his wife and baby. Malak died in hospital. Andreia Perestrelo was seven months pregnant and had to escape from the 21st floor with her husband and daughters over the bodies in the stairwell, some dead. “Someone grabbed my leg,” Perestrelo said. The family escaped but their child Logan Gomez was stillborn. Then there was the elevator, which was not up to fire standards. Firefighters tried but were unable to control it. Khadija Khalloufi, 52, entered the elevator with several others when she became separated from her husband while trying to escape. But it stopped unexpectedly on the 10th floor and filled with toxic smoke. Khalloufi was found dead by firefighters on the 10th floor along with passengers Ali Yawar Jafari, 81, and Mohamednur Tuccu, 44. On the 16th floor, Joseph Daniels, 69, was with his son Sam. He had dementia and diabetes and couldn’t manage the stairs and when it was time to leave he froze on the spot. Sam ran for help, but firefighters were unable to save him. An 84-year-old woman, named only as Sheila at the hearing, died in bed in her 16th-floor flat. Steve Power, 63, a retired driver and DJ who had emphysema, tried but failed to escape with his daughter Rebecca. The evidence led Richard Millett QC, counsel for the inquest, to observe the “huge gaps between the recent horrific experiences of those who died” and the construction industry’s heavy-handedness of jargon…
