HIGHRISE HORROR Criminal inquiry launched
A CRIMINAL inquiry was last night opened into the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in London, which has claimed the lives of dozens of people and critically injured another 17.
The inquiry comes as the name of the man whose malfunctioning fridge is thought to have sparked the blaze, taxi driver Behailu Kebede, was published in the British press.
Mr Kebede, who migrated from Ethiopia, lived in flat 16 on the fourth floor, and was the first to alert the fire brigade and neighbours when his fridge sparked a fire just before 1am on Wednesday. Mr Kebede, now staying with friends, is reportedly distraught.
Scotland Yard confirmed it would conduct a criminal in- vestigation as Prime Minister Theresa May also pledged an independent public inquiry.
The inquiries will look at why residents’ fire safety concerns were not addressed, and what role the exterior cladding played in accelerating the fire.
It was also revealed the council that owns the building could have used fire-resistant cladding for just $8000 more.
The Times revealed the cheaper cladding used was aluminium-coated but had a plastic core – a type of cladding banned on tall buildings in the US because of its flammability.
Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy last night said there was a “risk” investigators would “not be able to identify everybody.” He added he hoped the death toll would not go into “triple figures.” TRAPPED and facing death in their flat on the 23rd floor as fire tore through Grenfell Tower, Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi made heartbreaking final phone calls to their families in Italy.
In their last moments, the Italian couple said goodbye to their parents, with Ms Trevisan telling her mother: “Thank you for what you have done for me.” The London inferno was last night confirmed to have killed 17 but, with more than 50 missing, the the final toll could exceed 100.
Mr Gottardi, 27, tried to play down their families’ fears but eventually admitted smoke was rising around them and they could see flames coming up the stairs.
His father Giannino said: “In the first call Marco told us not to worry. He was trying to minimise what happened, probably not to unsettle us. But in the second call he said there was smoke, that so much smoke was rising. We were on the phone until the last moment.”
Adriana Urbano was returning home from her job as a cleaner when she got a phone call from 12-year-old daughter Jessica to say there was a fire in the building.
“I told her to get out of there as quickly as she could. I said ‘run as fast as you can’, but then the line cut out,” Ms Urbano said.
Jessica has still not been found. “We are desperate for news,” Ms Urbano said.