Triumph amid tragedy
IN a brief moment of light on a dark day for London, a man photographed leaning out his window in the Grenfell Tower begging for help was rescued, 11 hours after the fire started.
The partially-blind man, who waved a jumper out the window of his 11th floor flat and prayed, was saved by firefighters who carried him down the stairs.
His plight, as he gasped for air and cried out for help during Wednesday’s tower inferno, broke hearts around the globe. But somehow, he survived when so many others didn’t, and was freed just after midday London time, 11 hours after the fire erupted.
The man, whose name is not known, is believed to have lived in the building for more than 30 years and was wellknown to the residents.
There was further good news when Ines Alves, 16, escaped with her father from their 13th floor flat – and still managed to make it to her GCSE exam, despite losing everything they owned.
Ines escaped after her fa- ther, a chauffeur returning home late from work, noticed the fire at its early stages. The family evacuated, despite firefighters telling Ines’ mother that they should stay indoors.
She went to Sacred Heart School yesterday sit her maths exam.
“But I missed my history exam in the afternoon,” she told the Guardian.
But for every lucky escape, more stories emerged of families caught by the fire and smoke, unable to escape.
Last night at least 50 residdents were missing, 17 con- firmed dead and 78 being treated in hospital, with 18 of those listed as critical.
Grave fears were held for a mother of two who recorded a distressing Facebook video as she tried to escape from the top floor of the burning tower.
Sudanese-born Rania Ibrham, 30, was with her two young children, aged three and five, and struggled to find a way out through the dense smoke. Her live-steamed video captured the panic and terror of the fire from inside the building, as she searched for a way out.