The unborn baby killed by cyanide fumes
THE youngest victim of the Grenfell inferno was an unborn baby boy who was stillborn after being poisoned by cyanide fumes.
Andreia Gomes, 37, who was seven months pregnant, awoke from a medically induced coma to discover her baby, whom she had already named Logan, was dead.
She says her family were failed by the authorities, later telling council bosses: ‘You killed my son.’
Mrs Gomes lived on the 21st floor of the tower block with her husband Marcio and daughters Luana, 12, and Megan, ten.
They made five 999 calls as they spent two hours trapped inside, but were told to ‘stay put’ – despite their curtains and furniture bursting into flames.
Shortly before 4am the family decided it was ‘now or never’ and left their home to stagger down a smoke-filled stairwell.
At one stage Mr Gomes, 38, an Ofsted inspector, realised his elder daughter was no longer with them and ran back up to find her unconscious. He said: ‘We had to go down the stairs from the 21st floor. You couldn’t see anything. We had to step over bodies.’
Baby Logan was later delivered by caesarean section at Kings College Hospital in South London, but did not have a heartbeat. Mrs Gomes said: ‘They believed that the poisons went in and obviously everything goes to the baby. The amount he received, it was obviously enough to stop his heart.’
Mr Gomes had to break the devastating news to his daughters.
He said: ‘We didn’t use soft words. We didn’t say her baby brother was sleeping with the angels. We used the real words and told her that Logan died and the reasons why Logan died.’
His wife blamed ‘cut corners’ during the renovation of the tower block for many deaths that could have been avoided. She said: ‘When you go ahead ignoring something like that I feel that you don’t care. You just killed so many people and you just killed my son.
‘Because in a normal situation I could have gone out and he could have survived. But because of the conditions, he passed away.
Richard Hull, a professor of chemistry at the University of Central Lancashire, said the toxic cyanide fumes may have come from plastic foam insulation.
The final victims of the fire to be identified were a mother and daughter, who ‘died at each other’s side’, according to their family.
Victoria King, 71, and her daughter Alexandra Atala, 40, were named by police yesterday.