Grenfell dad says advice to stay put led to son’s death
‘I had to listen to them die’
A GRIEVING father has criticised the fire brigade’s advice for Grenfell Tower residents to ‘stay put’ as the blaze raged, saying it cost the life of his five-year-old son Isaac.
Paulos Tekle said yesterday he blamed himself for Isaac’s death because he followed official advice to stay in their 18th floor flat and wait for rescue.
He told how neighbours urged the family to flee, but after calling 999 repeatedly, he was told to ‘stay put’ for almost two hours.
He was then told abruptly to get his family out immediately. But by then the fire had spread, the building’s only stairwell was filled with smoke and Isaac became separated in the chaos as the family escaped.
Mr Tekle, his wife Genet Shawo, and their three-year- old son survived, but Isaac’s remains were found on the 13th floor. He was one of the youngest victims of the blaze, which killed 72 people last June.
His father choked back tears as he told the sixth day of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry: ‘I will never forget Isaac’s big beautiful eyes, his calm-looking wait for his Dad to save them all. But I didn’t, because I listened to the authorities, and that makes me angry.
‘I have to live with the guilt of not protecting my son every day. I am broken, and the only thing that can make me whole is to fight for the truth and justice in Isaac’s name.’
Several families have criticised the advice and the decision to put flammable cladding panels on the tower block, saying their relatives were effectively murdered.
Ahmed Elgwahry, who was on the phone to his mother Eslah, 64, and sister Mariem, 27, as they died in the tower, said: ‘My mum and my sister were murdered and cremated on June 14. They were poisoned by smoke, they were burned, they were cremated.
‘I had to listen to them... die. If that’s not torture, I’m not sure what is.’
Isaac’s father said his son was ‘sacrificed’, and gave harrowing evidence about the night of the fire. The family was woken by panic outside, and was told by neighbours that fire was spreading up the sides of the building. He said: ‘I called the fire brigade. I was told to wait and... they would come and get us.
‘I called friends in the building and woke them up. They left and they’re alive today.
‘I’m happy I saved their lives, but every day I ask myself... what if I had not listened and we had left right then? My Isaac would be here today.’
At 2am – just over an hour after the first 999 calls – a fireman knocked on the family’s door, and Mr Tekle believed they were being rescued.
But the fireman told them to stay inside. Another 45 minutes went by before officials finally told the family to leave.
Mr Tekle said: ‘I want to know why I was stopped from leaving the flat at around 2am. Why were we kept inside so long? Who was responsible for that decision?’
Mr Elgwahry said it would have been ‘suicide’ for firemen to try to reach his mother and sister on the top floor.
He received a standing ovation from other families at the inquiry as he said warnings about safety fears at the building were ignored for years, adding: ‘These women were taken from me due to a complete catalogue of failures... that resulted in the loss of life in the most horrifying way.
‘What is being ignored is the failure to acknowledge the utter incompetence leading up to this preventable tragedy.’
The inquiry also heard tributes to Eritrean refugee Berkti Haftom, 29, who was ten weeks pregnant when she died alongside her 12-year-old son.