Girl, 4, was caught like a rugby ball as she fell from 50ft
A GIRL of four was safely caught after being dropped 50ft from the fifth floor, it emerged yesterday.
Witnesses described how a mother was seen screaming for help from a window with the little girl in her arms.
A man standing on the ground below, named only as Pat, managed to catch her ‘like a rugby ball’.
Grenfell resident Kadelia Woods, 20, said: ‘The mum was screaming and the fire was raging like crazy. Pat was calling, “Drop her, I’ll catch her”.
‘The mum was screaming, “No, no, I can’t!” Pat kept reassuring her and then the girl dropped.
‘Everyone’s hearts stopped but Pat managed to catch her like a rugby ball tucked into his chest.’
Paramedics treated the girl at the scene and Pat, believed to be in his 40s, was taken to hospital for treatment.
Miss Woods said she does not believe the girl’s mother escaped from the flat alive, as when she looked back ‘the whole floor was on fire’. The child is one of three who survived falls from windows. Another is believed to have been thrown from the tenth floor.
However others were not so fortunate. One man described the moment he watched his nephew consumed by flames at a window.
Mokhtar Ghamni, whose brother-in-law Abdul Wahabi lived on the 21st floor, managed to reach nephew Yasin by phone. The 20-year-old lived with his parents and siblings Mehdia, eight, and Nur Huda, 16, who was due to celebrate her 17th birthday later this month.
Mr Ghamni said: ‘He said “Uncle we’re stuck”. I could see him from the window and I could see the fire spreading towards them. Then I saw the fire boom into their flat and the phone line went down.’
None of the family have been seen since. Mr Ghamni said: ‘The fire spread like petrol. I knew as soon as I saw it and realised they were still in the flat that they were all going to die. The police haven’t said anything but I know they are dead.’
Last night other relatives said the family, who were of Moroccan heritage and had lived in the tower block for ten years, was ‘wiped out’ after being ordered to stay inside the burning tower. Cousin Otman Boujettif, 42, said: ‘An entire family’s been wiped out. We spoke to them at about 1.30am but they’d been told by the fire brigade to stay in their flat.’