Appeals flood in from friends and relatives of the missing
THREE generations of one family are feared to have died in the devastating fire at a West London tower that has claimed at least 12 lives.
Teaching assistant Nadia Choucair, her husband Malak, their three daughters and her mother-in-law are among the missing.
One of the girls phoned her best friend as flames and smoke choked the apartment building, the Mirror reports, telling her: “We’re not going to make it. I love you.”
Relatives and friends of up to 600 people who may have been trapped inside the tower block have been searching desperately for their loved ones. Makeshift evacuation centres and social media have been flooded with appeals.
Others pleaded for information on the El-Wahabi family of five: Fouzia and Aziz, their teenage daughter Nurhuda, and sons Yasin and Mehdi.
Mr El-Wahabi’s sister Hanan, who escaped with her husband and children, said: “They live on the 21st floor. I rang him and the fire had not reached the top of the block at that point. He said he had been told to stay inside, stay in one room together and put towels under the door.
“I told him to leave. He said he was going to come. Then I called him and he said there was too much smoke.
“Last time I saw him they were waving out the window, his wife and children.”
Genet Shawo told the Mirror she was searching for her five-year-old son Isaac Paulos.
“We were on the 18th floor,” she said. “The smoke was so thick, we couldn’t see. A neighbour took Isaac’s hand and I had my other son Lucas – he’s three.
“We went downstairs, but when we got outside Isaac wasn’t there. I saw the neighbour and said, ‘Where’s my son?’ He said he’d left him.”