How Grenfell unfolded floor-by-floor as terrified residents ‘tripped over bodies’ in pitch black to flee raging inferno

THE Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people was the result of “decades of failure”, the long-awaited report into the blaze has found.

The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation , the inquiry chairman said.

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Sir Martin Moore-Bick called out “deliberate and sustained” manipulation of fire-safety testing, misrepresentation of test data and misleading of the market.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the report identified “substantial and widespread failings”, adding that the Government will carefully consider its recommendations “to ensure that such a tragedy cannot occur again”.

The seven-volume and near-1,700 page final report of the inquiry into the disaster laid out in damning detail how those in positions of responsibility had not heeded or acted on warnings from earlier fires.

Here, we reveal how the disaster unfolded, floor by floor, with tower residents facing tragedy throughout the night.

Floor 10: “Stumbling over bodies”

Nagawa Nalukwago, who was staying in Flat 71, next to Flat 76, left the tower at 1.35am.

Upon leaving her flat, she was confronted by “thick black smoke which felt hot”, according to Volume 6 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

Despite the conditions, she was able to make her way to the stairwell.

While doing so, she “stumbled over what she thought were three bodies”, according to the report.

They were the bodies of Ali Yawar Jafari, Mohamednur Tuccu and Khadija Khalloufi, all of whom had by then been overcome
by the conditions in the lobby.

“That none of them had been able to reach the stairs shows how disorientating conditions on floor 10 were,” the inquiry states.

Floor 11: Panic in smoke-filled lift

Retired jewellery maker Ali Yawar Jafari, 81, had lived in Flat 86 on floor 11 of Grenfell Tower with his wife, Fatima, and their two adult daughters, Maria and Nadia, since 2003.

Ali suffered from diabetes and heart disease.

On the evening of June 13, 2017, Ali was seen entering the tower at 7.40pm, staying in his home preparing to break the Ramadan fast with the rest of the Jafari family.

By 1.22am, the fire had reached the top of floor 11, outside the kitchen of their flat.

Fatima and Maria had begun making their way outside, with Nadia waking her father to help him escape.

Nadia saw flames push through the kitchen window extractor fan, shattering the glass, as she fled with her father.

They knocked on the doors of neighbours, and Nadia suggested to her father that they use the lift to leave the tower.

There appeared to have been no smoke in the lift when it got to floor 11, according to the Grenfell Inquiry report.

It started to descend but stopped suddenly at floor 10, and smoke started seeping through the closed doors.

A rush of smoke then filled the lift as the doors opened, leaving the Jafaris and other residents coughing and shouting, and obscuring the lights.

In a panic, Ali and a number of other residents went into the smoky lobby, and he became trapped.

Nadia thought her father left the lift on the ground floor ahead of her, but when the family discovered this was not the case, Nadia and Maria tried to get back in.

They were stopped by a police officer.

Firefighters found Ali Yawar Jafari’s body near the lift on floor 10, and carried him down the stairs, before realising he was already dead.

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Floor 14: Left behind in neighbour’s kitchen

Painter and decorator Denis Murphy, 56, lived in Flat 111 on Floor 14 of Grenfell Tower, having first moved there in 1984, and returning again following an amicable separation from his wife in 1997.

He lived there for the next 20 years.

Denis, who had emphysema, returned to his home on the afternoon of June 13, and called 999 at 1.25am, telling the operator that the blaze was outside his window.

He called his brother Timothy and left a message. Timothy then returned the call at around 1.36am.

Timothy could hear a smoke alarm in the background, and his brother was coughing, “sounding distressed”, according to the inquiry report.

Denis opened the front door when his brother told him to leave, but then told Timothy that it was pitch black in the lobby and smoke was coming into the flat.

Timothy told his brother to shelter in the bathroom, adding that he would call the emergency services.

The final death toll

• 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)

Firefighters arrived on the scene, and moved Denis to Flat 112, and then again into Flat 113.

During the “partial evacuation” after a number of firefighters were deployed to floor 14, Denis Murphy was left behind.

His remains were later recovered from the kitchen area of Flat 113.

The Inquiry report states: “We conclude that the bridgehead was aware shortly after that partial evacuation that people remained trapped on floor 14.

“No other firefighters were able to reach that floor.

“There was no direct contact with Denis Murphy after the partial evacuation.”

Floor 15: Black smoke filling the flat

Retired driver and keen fisherman Steve Power, 63, lived in Flat 122 on floor 15 with his daughter Rebecca Ross, his son Bobby Ross and his three dogs, Stevia, Diva and Jess.

He suffered from emphysema and was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

On the night of the fire, Steve woke his daughter at around 1.30am to tell her about the blaze in the building.

She wanted to leave, but he thought they should stay.

Friends and family called and urged them both to leave, and Rebecca tried to persuade her dad to do so.

At around 2.22am, black smoke was filling the flat.

The father and daughter agreed to leave.

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The lobby was so full of black smoke that it was impossible to see.

Rebecca managed to find her way to the stairwell, and firefighters found her on the stairs between floors 10 and 11.

The daughter, who was struggling to breathe, told the firefighters who were carrying her down the stairs that her father was trapped on floor 15.

Rebecca left the tower at 2.54am, and later learned that a friend of her father had spoken to him over the phone after she had left the flat.

“There is no further evidence of when the call was made or what was said, but it appears to have been the last contact with Steve Power,” the inquiry reads.

Floor 16: Father did not want to leave

Joseph Daniels, 69, lived in Flat 135 on floor 16.

Born in Lucknow, India, Joseph came to Britain in 1982 after marrying Lucy Smyth, moving into Grenfell Tower one year later.

The couple had one son, Samuel Daniels, but the pair divorced, with Joseph continuing to live in Flat 135.

He had a daughter, Stephanie Hillier, from another relationship.

Joseph was suffering from dementia, diabetes and limited mobility in 2017, but was not bedbound, the inquiry report states.

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He had to use the lift to leave the tower, and his son said that Joseph could not walk up and down the stairs for about a year and a half before the fire, and had not left the flat for two months before the fire.

On the evening of June 13, Joseph was at home with his son.

Samuel noticed a faint burning smell but could not find its source.

He tried to persuade his dad to leave, and went into the lobby a number of times, noticing “an increasing amount of smoke” each time, according to the report.

Samuel could not convince his father to leave, so left on his own, leaving the door open for his dad to follow, the inquiry report says.

Joseph likely shut the door after his son left because firefighters found it closed when they searched floor 16.

Samuel met a firefighter in the stairwell around floor 11 at some point between 1.28am and 1.38am, and told the emergency worker that his father was trapped in his flat.

When firefighters arrived on floor 16, the lobby was full of thick smoke and there was very limited visibility.

They searched the first flat they came to, and could not search others due to being low on air – but they did knock on other doors, the inquiry report says.

Samuel was waiting on the stairs when he saw the firefighters return, and he tried to ask them about his dad – but was told to leave the tower, which he did.

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Once outside the tower, having found his mother, Samuel told someone – who could have been either a firefighter or a police officer – that his dad was still in Flat 135, at about 2am.

His mother gave the officer the number of the floor and the flat.

“The information that someone might still be in Flat 135 did not prompt any further deployments,” according to the Grenfell Inquiry report.

“The two deployments which took place after 03.24 were not sent to Flat 135 and neither of them reached floor 16.”

There was no further contact from Joseph Daniels after his son left Flat 135.

His remains were recovered from the living room of Flat 135.

Floor 17: A mother, father and their three children dead

All six flats on floor 17 were occupied at the time of the fire.

By 1.30am, the residents of Flats 141, 143, 145 and 146 had left the
building safely, apart from Khadija Khalloufi, who died on floor 10.

Residents who remained on floor 17, Kamru Miah, 79, his wife, Rabeya Begum, 64, and their adult children Mohammed Hamid, 28, Mohammed Hanif, 26, and Husna Begum, 22, lived in Flat 142 and tragically died in the fire.

Husna Begum made an emergency call at 1.29am before her death and reported smoke coming into the flat, as well as flames outside.

She told officers the fire was “in the house right next to us”.

The family had moved to Grenfell Tower in August 2016.

Husna Begum called her elder brother Mohammed Hakim at 3.08am and said the family were trapped in the flat.

She harrowingly said she did not think she would survive and ended the call.

Mohammed Hakim then tried to call all five members of
his family, but the calls all went to voicemail.

The fourth and last emergency call from Husna was made at 3.18am. Her body was recovered in the lobby, indicating she had tried to leave, while the rest of her family members were found in a bedroom closest to the front door.

Vincent Chiejina, 60, who lived in Flat 144, also perished.

Rita Tankarian, her nephew, Mesrob Kassemdijan, and his girlfriend, Fung Hee-Cheung were the first to leave floor 17, they lived in Flat 141.

They could smell smoke in the lobby but could not see any.

Flames reached the outside of Flat 146 at about 1.24am, where Virgilio (Larry) Castro lived with his friend, Genaro Batoan. His girlfriend was also staying that night.

Larry saw flames coming through the extractor fan in the kitchen window before they escaped, he also said black smoke in the lobby made him cough.

The door to Flat 146 needed to be pulled shut as the self-closing device did not work effectively.

Meanwhile Flat 145 resident, Corinne Jones, saw black smoke coming from the top of the door and moving along the ceiling.

She left with Larry at around 1.30am.

It is likely that the lobby of floor 17 rapidly filled with smoke within a few minutes after the fire reached Flat 146

The contents of Flat 146 were alight between 2.19am and 2.25am.

Floor 23: Mother’s plea – “I can’t breathe”

Mariem Elgwahry spoke to her brother, Ahmed, at about 1.43am, telling him that there was a fire in the kitchen and she was with their mother.

Ahmed told her to get out of the building. He then left his home and went to the tower.

Mariem Elgwahry called Ahmed Elgwahry again several times, telling him that they had tried to go down the stairs but could not do so as others had been coming up and telling her to go back.

She explained that she was now in Flat 205 after a neighbour had let
them into his flat.

The final telephone call between Ahmed and his sister Mariem began at 2.33am and ended at 4.27am.

Ahmed said that there had been no background noise in the flat.

He could hear coughing and his sister’s coughing increased.

He tried to encourage her to leave but she said she could not leave as the landing was filled with thick black smoke.

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Ahmed believed that his sister did not want to leave their mother behind.

Ahmed could see that the kitchen of Flat 205 was the last room to be affected by the fire on the outside of the building.

He heard his mum begin to panic. She started mumbling and making a deep humming sound.

She was initially able to make banging sounds in response to requests from her brother but stopped responding soon after.

Ahmed then heard his mother say in Arabic, “I can’t breathe.”

He thought that that was at about 3.10am.

He did not hear from them again.

Five to ten minutes later he could hear the sound of glass windows breaking and the fire entering the flat.

He kept the line open until 4.27am, long after he had ceased to hear from them.

The fire reached the west face of Flat 205 by around 3.14am.

By 3.33am, there was evidence of a large fire throughout Flat 205.

The remains of Eslah and Mariem Elgwahry were recovered from the kitchen area of Flat 205.

The coroner was satisfied about the identification of those remains and therefore issued interim certificates of the fact of death for Eslah and Mariem Elgwahry.