Baby thrown from window lives
THE residents’ Grenfell Action Group warned last year the tower block was a fire trap and that building managers had failed to listen to their fears.
“It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO ( Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation),” the group wrote in November. “We have blogged many times on the subject of fire safety … these investigations will become part of damning evidence of the poor safety record of the KCTMO should a fire affect any other of their properties and cause the loss of life that we are predicting.’’ A WITNESS to the London highrise blaze has told how she saw a member of the public catch a baby that was dropped from a window high up in the burning tower block at the height of the inferno.
Samira Lamrani told Britain’s Press Association she saw a woman desperately save the baby by dropping it from a window “on the ninth or 10th floor”.
She says “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,’’ Ms Lamrani said.
“Somebody did, a gentleman ran forward and managed to grab the baby.”
TV presenter George Clarke, who hosts the British lifestyle program Amazing Spaces, told London’s Radio 5 Live he was covered in ash even though he was 100m from the scene of the blaze.
He said he saw people waving flashlights from the top levels of the building and saw rescuers “doing an incredible job” trying to get people out.